This Way to the Sugar (iii)

from poet Hieu Minh Nguyen and Write Bloody Publishing

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 31, 42, 45, 59, 73]

1

This Way to the Sugar is the 1 book with the earliest year of copyright, 2014, of 2 attributed to Hieu Minh Nguyen offered by Amazon today .

The 1 in my hand says First Edition on the copyright page. Amazon shows the same title, with the same author from the same publisher in that same year, with another cover.

Nearly all poems in the book are 1 page long, or 1 and change. 1 poem, Boy, page 15, prefaces the collection.

The poet was raised by 1 single mother.

2

1 poem, Ladyboy Theater, page 57, is a solid 2 pages long and change.

2 previous Viet Nam letters have addressed This Way to the Sugar, by Hieu Minh Nguyen, first on August 10, 2022 and then again on September 21, 2022.

3

Hieu Minh Nguyen dedicates This Way to the Sugar to exactly 3 persons, by first name only. Stacy may be the Stacy Nguyen he thanks in the Acknowledgements at the back of the book, page 73.

The Samantha Minneart there may be the Samantha he thanks at the front. I have not yet spotted Alexandria anywhere else.

This Way to the Sugar presents 3 parts, each with an epigraph from a boy’s story. Roman numeral I has Christopher Robin and 17 poems. II has Pinocchio and another 17.

III has 9 poems after a remark by Peter Pan.

The copyright page credits Ashley Siebels with 3 roles: cover art, cover photo, and interior layout. That page credits 3 proofreaders.

4

Write Bloody Press printed a paragraph of Praise for This Way to the Sugar from each of 4 poets on the back cover of the book. 1 blurb author, Sierra DeMulder, also appears inside, on the final pages, both in the publisher’s list of Write Bloody Books and in the author’s selection of those he likes.

The poet further gives her as his precursor for his poem The Gay 90s, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 18+ on page 50.

The copyright page credits 4 editors. 1 is the founder of the press, Derrick C. Brown.

Another, Michael Mekloday, wrote 1 one of the 4 blurbs on the back cover. The poet credits a third, Sam Sax, as his precursor in manner or topic for the poem Flight on page 29.

Danez Smith, the last editor credited, appears as all 4 editors do on the page of Acknowledgements at the back of the book.

5

On the second page of his Acknowledgements, the poet Hieu Minh Nguyen thanks 5 organizations, including the founder and people of Write Bloody, for including him. Another is Button Books, founded by Michael Mlekoday who contributed a blurb.

7

In the front, the copyright page specifies 7 roles for assembling the book: author, cover art, cover photo, proofreaders, editors, author photo, and interior layout.

The publisher asked the poet to list books he likes from Write Bloody on a page explaining the collective work. At the back, he names 7.

8

On that same page, Write Bloody announces that they publish and promote 8 to 12 tour-savvy authors per year.

9

Acknowledgements thanks 9 journals where poems in This Way to the Sugar appeared previously. 5 journals published 1 poem each, 3 published 2, and 1 published 3.

The poet sought review from his peers, and found validation.

10

The copyright page specifies 10 individuals who put the book together.

14

By Hieu’s accounting, a total of 14 of these poems had previously appeared in a journal.

31

I take it that more than twice as many, 31, had not. Nearly every 1 of the 85 in Wallace Stevens’ first collection Harmonium had.

42

Acknowledgements thanks 42 by both personal & family name for guidance, friendship, support, and wisdom. Of those 6 named sure sound Vietnamese to me.

3 others have family names that are unequivocally Nguyen. Separately the poet thanks his mother, who makes a fourth Nguyen, and his Tran grandmother.

All 4 poets who blurbed the book appear there. Exactly 1 of those, Bao Phi, definitely publishes in English as Vietnamese.

45

The poems of the book total 45.

59

Write Bloody Books lists 59 published titles. They include Rachel McKibbon as editor of 1 book with 2 others.

Hieu credits her as precursor for the poem Finally, the Son Talks About Women on page 69. 2 of the 59 titles which Write Bloody gives here do not appear in Hieu’s list of 7 he likes.

So there have likely been many more. More than 2 times as many, according to the publisher’s home page.

73

What? I have no idea.

I found that number on the 1 flyleaf in front of the title page. So I counted the list of Write Bloody Books at the back.

28 on the first page, 31 on the second, 59 total. So, This Way to the Sugar is not number 73.

Every 1 of 4 other Write Bloody book covers I have checked on Amazon has 73 on it. I inspected the cover of this one and found it faintly there as well.

73 stands on all the covers at the publisher’s home page. I found no explanation.

The search engine returns meanings from the numbering of angels and numerology generally that seem made-up and precious to me. There are facts from number theory, always fun, but none of those are Write Bloody’s vibe.

The civilian radio sign-off? Where 73 means Best Regards?

Maybe the publisher was a boyhood ham. But Derrick C. Brown entered adult life in the 82nd Airborne.

He jumped, so his MOS wasn’t 73. Maybe 73 is his personal lucky number.

A paratroop sapper I knew put his lucky number on his business.

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 31, 42, 45, 59, 73]

What is the meaning of this set of numbers from This Way to the Sugar? They mean that this is a first book of short poems having to do with the boyhood of a young man.

He has achieved adulthood remaining within his birth family while moving on to an art world of touring poets who sell books. Artist and audience are assimilating to each other by exposing rather than covering their troubles.

This Way to the Sugar is a repertoire from which Hieu Minh Nguyen may assemble a playlist to get the whole thing across to a room. A man who used to jump out of perfectly good aircraft and a community of friends and peers helped him get the merchandise together.

Far out.

Viet Nam letters have addressed This Way to the Sugar, by Hieu Minh Nguyen, twice before, first on August 10, 2022 and then again on September 21, 2022.

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.