TADIOTO

A while ago, I posted some translations of poems by Vu Thanh Son, a former Ha Noi police officer who’s abandoned the party and now lives in Brazil.

I continue to re-read him and keep coming back to the one opening line of one poem.  My friend Wayne Karlin said, “Stop right there,” when I read him that first line.  We were in a cafe, and the artist Bradford Edwards was there too. He too said, “Nothing else to say.” 

Here’s the line:  “This is not a place for agreements.” 

The poem is called Paradise.