LIBERATION TIME: film and poem by Cindy A. Nguyen:
LIBERATION TIME
Chapter 1
What year did that happen?
Before liberation. / Trước khi giải phóng
When did you go to school?
Before liberation.
When did you become a farmer?
After liberation.
When did you meet dad?
After liberation.
When did you want to leave?
After liberation.
And when was I born?
After liberation. / Sau khi giải phóng
What is liberation?
LIBERATION TIME
Chapter 2
Liberation was a time.
It was a demarcation
of what came before
and what came after.
Liberation was a place.
where everyone was invited
and forever remained guests.
Awaiting an alternative future.
Liberation was a friend.
a neighbor, a brother
a believer, a dreamer
familiar, familial, filial.
Liberation was a sound
repeated, whispered echoes
to cleanse and empty
the evils of the past,
the errors of the past
the past, the past, the past.
Ngà y xưa, ngà y xưa, ngà y xưa.
Hanoi, 2017