#The forest elf

26 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

wind panther
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Since this poem is a bit too long I will post it in pictures. My poems usually end up longer than I anticipated.

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I took the theme of this poem from a previous one of mine, but this time exploring different aspects.

tight berry
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I really love the aesthetic of the imagery

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"Does wisdom always lose to logic?" Is thought provoking

tidal kindle
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"But one thing remains in the fireball's afterglow" Got me to consider that

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Anyhow, very provocative

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Some parts I had to read twice to understand the meaning, I don't know if that was the idea behind it

still schoonerBOT
wind panther
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This will take many long replies to explain. Here I go.

wind panther
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I tend to use a massive amount of references and wordplay in my poems.
The song "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen about the Vietnam war begins with "Born down in a dead man's town". I specifically referred to Washington D.C. but you can extend it to Ho Chi MInh (City). Clearly Bruce Springsteen used "dead man's town" figuratively, not specifically, however. I also referred to "Fortunate Son" and "Run through the jungle" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Imagine" by John Lennon and "Across the universe" by The Beatles.
Lê Văn Tám is a fictional character created by Trần Huy Liệu, a Vietnamese historian to nominate the attack on a French gasoline storage in Sài Gòn in October 1945, due to complete lack of information on who were the perpetrators. Tám doused himself in gasoline and set fire, then ran at the storage tanks. He is venerated by the current regime in Vietnam as a hero nowadays.
However, I didn't specifically refer to MLK and Tám without another figure in mind, but I will leave that for later since I lost the citations.

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On November 3, 2021, Nusret Gokce (Salt Bae) posted a video of himself feeding Tô Lâm, public security minister of Vietnam, beef with gold leaf, in his restaurant in London. Tô Lâm was there to attend COP26. After leaving the summit building for the day, the Vietnamese delegate allegedly went to visit Karl Marx's grave and then went to the restaurant.
The video went viral and sparked outrage among the Vietnamese public, who had just gone through the arguably the harshest lockdown in the world after China during the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of people fled major cities after being virtually imprisoned with little access to resources for 2 to 4 months. The most impacted city was HCMC, accounting for half of the total COVID 19 fatalities in Vietnam, which was small compared to other countries, but in an extremely short timespan. I will provide more details if you ask for more.

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Also notice that many leaders in regimes like Russia, China, Vietnam, Syria,... die or disappear in ambiguous circumstances. I suppose you already know that. But I can provide more details on what I know.
If you listen to rap, you know what beef is.

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During the 1972 Easter Offensive, the ARVN was initially pushed back to the southern bank of Mỹ Chánh river between Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên province. The mountainous areas of both provinces however had always been a skirmish area between RVN/US forces and Vietcong as well as PAVN forces from Laos.

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From May to June 1972, while South Vietnamese forces were pushing back north of the river, they discovered about 2000 bodies on Highway 1 - mostly civilians who fled south but were shelled by North Vietnamese forces. The actual amount of fatalities due to shelling is larger, if one also counts casualties from shelling in surrounding areas. There is no official estimation on total casualties in Quảng Trị - Triệu Phong, Hải Lăng, Gio LInh,... districts were all shelled.

still schoonerBOT
wind panther
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See also: hippie culture, Hồ Chí Minh trail, Huế Massacre, Thích Quảng Đức,...

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Hồ Chí MInh has a personality cult venerating him as "father of the nation" (cha già dân tộc, nation as of people, not nation-state).

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There area few images at the end of the poem which cannot be soundly elaborated without me finding the lost citations. I'll get back to it once I find them.
That said, there are fictitious accounts of communist "heroes" for example Nguyễn Văn Bảy, a real pilot who allegedly cut the engine of the Mig-17 he was flying as he hid in a cloud so B52 crews could not hear him. As the bombers got close, he flew out and engaged them. Allegedly overall, he shot down 7 B52s in all of his engagements, while beforehand, he studied through 7 grades in 7 days.

wind panther
tidal kindle
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Damn, that goes deeper than I thought

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Thank you for the lessons on Vietnam, wasn't a part of the world I knew much

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Now knowing what the poem is about, I think it is even better and symbolizes the situations you just mentioned very well

wind panther
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Additionally, "peak of humanity's intellect" (đỉnh cao trí tuệ loài người) was how communism was described by North Vietnamese leaders. The term "civil servant" (đầy tớ của nhân dân) was intensively used by them as well. The Proclamationof independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam mentioned the USA's declaration - on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.