A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure

by Hoa Nguyen

Hoa Nguyen’s latest collection is a poetic meditation on historical, personal, and cultural pressures pre- and post-“Fall-of-Saigon” and comprises a verse biography on her mother, Diep Anh Nguyen, a stunt motorcyclist in an all-woman Vietnamese circus troupe. Multilayered, plaintive, and provocative, the poems in A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure are alive with archive and inhabit histories. In turns lyrical and unsettling, her poetry sings of language and loss; dialogues with time, myth and place; and communes with past and future ghosts.

Genres: Poetry, Aapi, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2021

About the author

Hoa Nguyen [(Vĩnh Long, 1967)] was born in the Mekong Delta, grew up in the DC area and studied poetics in San Francisco. She is the author of 8 books and chapbooks, most recently Hecate Lochia (Hot Whiskey, 2009), Kiss a Bomb Tattoo (Effing Press, 2009) and Chinaberry (Fact Simile, 2010). Based in Austin, TX, Hoa curates a reading series and leads a creative writing workshop.

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drown vs flood
Silken mud
Burned burrowing creature
with strong rodent teeth

Mekong moon story
write water on water

Write country

Float on flat boats
river moon reflective
and her voice there

I feel like Hoa Nguyen has unlocked this way with language that the rest of us don't have access to, a style that is uniquely hers, that doesn't cater to traditions of grammar and negative space, and that brilliantly tells a narrative on its own terms. I'm obsessed with her style, love Red Juice so much I want to carry it around like a baby, and am bowled over by this new collection. Many of the poems here are about Nguyen's mother, who was part of an all-female, Vietnamese motorcycle stunt group. If that doesn't sell you on this, I don't know what will (but yes, there are photos of the stunt action). The story is amazing, and it's been given such a thoughtful, loving poetic treatment.

[henry chandonnet · Rating 5 out of 5]

the way that Hoa Nguyen uses flowers to embellish/signify the lost image of her mother??? what??? every poem in this collection had me foaming at the mouth

read this with Ocean Vuong’s “Time is a Mother” for peak parental longing

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

eeeeee okay these are the wasian poems i want,, this collection was so goooood

love the fragment poems, love the photos, very alive text

[Oscreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great poetry collection. These personal poems almost felt haunting while reading them and connecting them to one another. There is an inner and deeper conversation happening within these poems about lost which I found super intriguing. I really enjoyed my time with these poems for sure.

[Dree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not enjoy this one--the most interesting poems were the ones about the author's mother's time in pre-war, especially as part of a women's motorcycle trick troupe. The troupe disbanded in 1961 due to the increased danger of travel, and the author seems to blame the Americans (who were all white too) and not the French or the communists and their funders. She comes across as being a bit jealous of her mother's earlier life, bitter, and full of hate for Americans (again, who are all white). She actually is an American (yet not white) now living in Canada (I'm unclear if she is actually a naturalized Canadian).

The author needs to/is trying to work through some things. I would love to read/hear her mother's take on her own life.

[Brad Young]

probably my fault that i wasn't that engaged, as I kind of breezed thru this one. I find it difficult to stay focused on short-form poetry - especially of the sort that requires a lot of scrutiny and rereads to fully appreciate the intricacies of.

[Ava · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t think I get it…but the all women motorcycle stunt group stuff was cool

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of this book was uncomprehensible. I did enjoy the parts that I was able to understand. I love the pictures included at the end.

[Ifa Agnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very different poetry collection indeed, very personal. Some poems are haunting. It goes straight to your heart...

[nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some pieces are quite difficult to connect with, but Hoa Nguyen's brilliance is so captivating. The photographs in the last few pages made some pieces in the collection more impactful. Beautiful!

[지훈 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes difficult to connect with, but had its gems and moments

[Katelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was unique, interesting, and a bit haunting. I liked the connection to language, culture, and her mother’s history as a stunt motorcyclist. I didn’t find any individual poems personally meaningful to me, but I can appreciate its uniqueness and how personal it was for the author.

[Stevie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection was not made for me, and that's okay. I am not the intended audience

[Dea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that remembering your mother by her hobby and the life she used to live when she was younger is a beautiful thing.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the story the poems told, but most of the poems were beyond my reach.

[Jennings]

DNF. This type of poetry didn’t resonate with me

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vietnam Ghost Story: Đà Lạt Lovers

A student at the military school  1956
and a literary teacher at the nearby high school
fall in love       Cute:

each day after school the military student left
a love letter on her door   Thao (an orphan)
wrote back and left a love letter reply on the door
 of her small house on the hill

Their love grew like a stack of letters

 They were in love and waited
for Thanh to graduate from military school
  before living as a couple    officially

Unlike Thao  Thanh is from wealth
  and his rich parents insist that
upon graduation  he return home
to the Delta   and marry a local girl of their choosing

   Unable to defy them   he does

Thao  devastated  jumps into a lake
drowns  leaves a letter
with instructions to bury her body
near her house and the memories
of her love for Thanh
   on the love letter hill

Thanhfinds out about her death
   goes to war is   killed
and then buried in Đà Lạt
next to his beloved Thao
 on the hill   per his written wishes

But
the widow  spurned in death
won't leave it at this

 She instructs that his body be removed
and taken back home to the Delta

 What a terrible
   idea

and now his ghost wanders

   Actually
both sites are haunted by their ghosts


and Đà Lạt made the site on the hill
into an attraction you can visit
because why not

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collection centers around Nguyen’s mother, Diệp Anh Nguyễn, who was a stunt motorcyclist in an all-women circus in Vietnam. Traversing historical, personal, and cultural motifs through a timeline spanning from folklore, the Vietnam War, the height of the circus troupe Hùng Việt, to Nguyen writing these poems, the collection forms a timeless archive. Form is embedded with layering through a variety from sonnets, palindromes, and the application of whitespace, to colloquial clips: letters, excerpts, and operation notes. Nguyen curates a narrative that expands the travesties of chemical warfare through ghost stories into her family history and the resolution of her own identity as a daughter with the same name as her mother’s first daughter lost. Lyrical symbolism of nature, including the symbols of butterflies, water, and bougainvillea, confluence with acute sentiment furthers the sophistication of Nguyen’s manipulations of language and theme. Love and loss imbue the landscape of Nguyen’s portrayal of Vietnam’s celestial history, one poem details the story of the Đà Lạt Lovers. In 1956, A student at the military school and a literary teacher fall in love and each day after school they exchange love letters, and “their love [grows] like a stack of letters;” however, the military student is married off to another local girl by his rich parents and the teacher jumps into a lake to be buried on a hill. The military student goes to war and when he dies he asks to be buried on the same hill, but his widow re-buries him and now the lovers wander as ghosts.

[Gee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many gorgeous lines, many moving lines, many interesting ideas, but i agree with other reviewers that a lot of the poems just felt very opaque to me, to the extent that I’m like yeah this is why people say they have a hard time w poetry.

I’m interested in the fact that this is a book of poems at all — the story of the poet’s mother and her all-women motorcycle performance crew in Vietnam is SO interesting, and the book knows it, supplying a whole section of amazing photos in the back. I wanted it to be a memoir, but instead it was poems. I’m still thinking about that and the way opacity can keep the reader at a distance…i’m not mad about it, but at the same time, the only poem (maybe 2 or 3 poems) that really struck me was one that used assonance and sound in a really haunting way.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning: this review is thought soup. Some poems read like cultural recipes, like what to do for Tet or Lost Souls. "We run on trash grass" really resonated with how I feel about my place in the universe. This poem in particular, but the whole book really felt like cultural easter eggs mixed with my own family story. My mom is badass. She didn't ride motorcycles hands-free in an all women circus. But is still amazing. My dad escaped communist labor camp by running through the jungle then hitching a ride on a bus full of circus performers while dressed as a soldier. The photos look so much like my own family photos. Any one of the badass motorcyclists could have been my mom (same hair, same style, same pose). More please.

[J. Michael Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably would have given it more stars if I had a better background on Vietnamese culture and history. Her poems reflect her deep feelings for the country of her heritage and the gratuitous violence poured out on it by the Johnson and Nixon administrations. There are also some touching poems about her mother, who was part of "Hung Viet," an all women's motorcycle stunt troupe.

Not disappointed at all in the book as it helped stretch my mind and emotional connection to the author.

[Phobean]

A book of (many!) poems centered around a unique premise: the author's flying motorcycle artist mother who performed with a troupe in Vietnam between 1955 and 1961. I felt pretty lost with the poetry, not understanding much of what it depicted or even what the pretty phrases and word-combos meant. That said, I'm glad I read this and got a glimpse into a world I had no idea existed. Also appreciated the photos at the end and looked through them for a long time.

[Patti K · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 2021 volume of poetry by a Vietnamese-American
poet. She powerfully writes of her mother's life during
and after the war. Also portrays what a terrible legacy the
war was for her and many Vietnamese persons. All the
violence and deceit and ignorance of that long-lasting
conflict. A very moving and accessible work.

[Megan]

Continuing reading from this year's National Book Awards; everything I've read from the poetry longlist has been interesting and engaging, and this is no exception. This collection does good stuff with time and space, moments and movement, unknown narrative spaces interacting with concrete details and archives.

[C. Varn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoa Nguyen impresses me greatly here with poems that are often as much about what is in spaces as what is said. Nguyen writes a lot about her mother's time in a motorcycle trick troupe which disbanded in 1961. Nguyen also uses flowers as a motif to ground a lot of the text. Some of the poems are almost gnomic and this collection does reward re-readings.

[eris · Rating 4 out of 5]

the fragmentary nature of each poem & the inventiveness with which nguyen approaches language are stunning. the whole collection is piercing and striking, i really don’t know how i’ll ever move on from it.

[Lucas Trong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, softcore but powerful words. She intrigued me to research more about her, a lot of mood and tone in her words, and insightful ideas about her poem when I saw her interview about this poem collection

[Logan Hageman · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good

archival? intergenerational

favorites were
: Napalm Notes, Mud Matrix, Red Shoes Girl Song, Mexico, and the annotated photos

brass planter bougainvillea made me stop and put the book down for a sec while I tried to sort out that description in context

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

a mesmerizing book with jewels and an all women flying motorcycle daredevil team from Viet Nam - just a superb collection

[Jennifer LoveGrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous.