Vietnamese Lessons (ii) and Vietnamese Phrase Book (ii)

from poet Edward Kissam, publishers Anvil Press Poetry and Headquarters, Department of the Army

The cover or title page credits Edward Kissam with Vietnamese Lessons “based on a U.S. Army Handbook of Vietnamese phrases” and gives in parentheses the Army number and exact title of the original Vietnamese Phrase Book.

These are not Vietnamese lessons. They are not Vietnamese phrases.

Vietnamese Lessons is a poem.

The 12 numbered lessons could be stanzas - the paragraphs of a poem - or cantos - the chapters of an epic - or lyrics and odes gathered for an anthology on a theme. Since we have here just over 1 side of at most 1 half of 1 long sheet of paper, I call these 12 lessons as many stanzas of 1 poem.

Edward Kissam composed all stanzas with lines verbatim from the original phrase book. The poet selected phrases following their order in the book and transformed their enumeration into the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

The phrase book rather displays IX chapters in outline by Roman numeral and lower case Roman letters a, b, or c for each subchapter, giving pages by decimal digit. The table of contents itself runs on 2 facing pages with lower-case Roman numerals iv and v, preceded by instructions for use in 3 sentences on 1 page, iii.

A guide to prononciation follows the table of contents on pages vii through xv. A dictionary starts at the back of the last chapter, on pages 123-176, alphabetized by English.

Its many numbers make communication possible. Vietnamese Phrase Book assisted teams of United States Special Forces in recruiting local men face to face to fight Communists. What does the sequence of 1 dozen only in Vietnamese Lessons do?

This was the second Viet Nam letter of 2 so far presenting Vietnamese Lessons by Edward Kissam and Vietnamese Phrase Book from the Department of the Army. The first posted on September 20, 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.