This Way to the Sugar (i)
from poet Hieu Minh Nguyen and Write Bloody Publishing
Ai giới thiệu? Who made the introduction? It was the woman I had thought might have written the novel The Renovation, about her childhood in Ha Noi. She got in touch last week after 10 years in Africa.
No, she didn’t write that one, but she had done a master’s in fiction at the low-residency program at Warren Wilson, near Asheville, the college that launched my younger brother’s music here in North Carolina. Founded for farm boys and girls the school now teaches city kids while they work the campus farm.
Richard Sewall, my professor who first wrote the life of Emily Dickinson, retired to teach there. Now they have a very cool writing program for those cultivating their own gardens elsewhere. My long-ago girl told me that another Vietnamese studied with her. Cool, I said. I found many copies of his book for sale used.
That is a good sign. I found the copy that was cheapest because it already has been read hard. Underlined. That is a very good sign. Now that book has arrived and here we are. This Way to the Sugar is in the rota for my readings here but I have not read it yet even once.
When just now I read the title again on the front cover the first echo back from my mind was This Way For the Gas Ladies and Gentleman. Those are humorous tales from Auschwitz-Birkenau, first published in English 15 years after the author died at his own hand, by gas. Here we are in the diaspora, after all.
The commentary on the back cover of Hieu Minh Nguyen’s book is midrash, highly interpretive while reaching for sober authority. Poet Bao Phi’s final words begin, “This book should be required reading.” That is, scripture. We the learned discuss what the observant shall study, what the cantor must sing on what appointed day.
Look, if I thought that way I would be teaching Emily Dickinson. Or, come to think of it, I wouldn’t. Whatever shall we do to build collective authority with individual freedom? Hey you, Bao and Hieu, all you all wouldn’t be from the Republic of Viet Nam would you?
This Way to the Egress.
This is the first of 3 Viet Nam letters to have addressed This Way to the Sugar, by poet Hieu Minh Nguyen, so far. The second appeared on September 21, 2022 and the third on June 5, 2023.
Viet Nam letters respects the property of others under paragraph 107 of United States Code Title 17. If we asked for permission it wouldn’t be criticism. We explain our fair use at length in the letter of September 12, 2022.
The colophon of these Viet Nam letters, directly above, shows the janitor speaking with poet David A. Willson on a Veterans Day.
Ask and ye shall receive. You'll recall I had the gall to urge you to substack. Purely selfish [and subjective, I know], but for me you're Hunter S.'s [never mind Canyon Man's] sober brother. A world-class satirist [I know Charlie Hunter agrees]. Warren Wilson College. Just the words a mantra for me. What's revolutionary about this technology is that you're my mentor, and office hours/syllabi/fundraising campaigns/contracts are all superfluous. I channel my inner Daniel, and it makes me a much sharper Sinologist. Same bullshit, different cadres. Reading you transports me back to your Center Road kitchen, my Round Table. I'm still working on lessons I learned there [and here]. I still speak with your ancestor father daily [we watch Giants games together]. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.