Excerpt from
3
_ V I E T N A M E S E _ P O E T S
Linh
Dinh 2002 $9
Linh Dinh translates the work of Nguyen Quoc Chanh, Phan Nhien Hao, and
Van Cam Hai
Designed by Stuart Henley
from "In the Silicon Valley", by Phan Nhien Hao
There are climates that can wear out shoes like acid
The view out the window is always cut by rain and sunlight,
and fuzzy calculations on a computer I live in a valley
where people will saw their own leg to sell to buy a house.
All the sublimeness of language has died in a jar breeding
an artificial fetus. There are many such artificial children
in Silicon Valley. They wear plastic name tags and colorful
ties.
Linh Dinh's previous chapbooks of poems are A small triumph over lassitude (Leroy, 2001) and Drunkard Boxing (Singing Horse Press, 1998). He is author of the short story collection, Fake House (Seven Stories Press, 2000) and editor of the anthology Night, Again: Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam (Seven Stories Press, 1996). He is currently on a fellowship in Italy.
