Stranger from the Internet

I’m just a stranger from the Internet
Who lives 1.8 kilometers away
Who shows up at your door like an uninvited guest
And feeds you strange food every other day

I’m just a stranger from the Internet
Who messes up your sleeping schedule
Who occupies half of your bed
After a ride that wastes your fuel

I’m just a stranger from the Internet
Who loves your crinkling eyes as you grin
Who randomly throws your name into every chitchat
Then cries my eyes out when I’m left on seen

I’m just a stranger from the Internet
Who finds you so achingly familiar
So gentle and mellow, the bestest of the best
Even potential, mayhaps, of being a keeper

So tell me, stranger from the Internet
Can you just stop being a stranger?
But if that is too much of a request
You will still be my favorite one ever.

Maastricht, 1/2019
–
the breakup poem that took me so many tears

convenience store

I spend as little as a fiver
for a bottle of enjoyment
and spend some tasteless banter
for my own amusement

I often come with plans to devour
then bring back an armload of materials
I come, even on days when I’m not sure
what I am having later?

I don’t have to spend plenty
to expect much in return
all this joy kept in frames, neatly
I would take at a swipe of the hand

no poem is sold under the label “instant”
nor love canned for convenience
but standing in front of this overwhelming illusion
doesn’t it look like I still have options?
as long as I don’t choose (to be) the bad person
who splurges half-hearted dalliance
not knowing what to get in exchange for it all

I spend tonight on a paper roll
watching my words glow
smolder, then vaporize

Brighton, 2/2023
–
this piece was originally written in Vietnamese

cửa hàng tiện lợi

bỏ ra năm đồng
được chai rượu chát
buông câu đùa nhạt
được người mua vui

đến cùng với những cuộc vui
rồi xách về đầy tay nguyên liệu
đến cả vào những ngày không hiểu
tối nay mình ăn gì?

chỉ cần bỏ ra tí ti
không mong lấy gì nhiều nhặn
những hân hoan đóng khung vuông ngay ngắn
bằng lòng thu về sau cái gạt tay

chẳng có bài thơ lấy ngay
cũng không tình yêu đóng hộp
nhưng trước những mông lung choáng ngợp
xem như là còn lựa chọn đấy thôi
miễn đừng chọn (làm) kẻ tồi
bỏ ra toàn lấp lửng lả lơi
biết nhận lại gì trong tất thảy?

bỏ đêm nay vào cuộn giấy
mấy lời tôi âm ỉ cháy
bốc hơi

Brighton, 2/2023
–
to Budgens wine and affairs of convenience

it’s a match!

lời ca cũ hợp nỗi lòng
chiều hôm nay hợp để không ngồi nhà
nắng vàng hợp với thảm hoa
váy hoa tôi hợp la cà quán quen

hợp gì với những đua chen
im im cho hợp một hèn mọn tôi
băn khoăn hợp với đôi mươi
tính toan nào hợp những lời xa xôi

đây rồi, một bạn hợp tôi
hợp thức, hợp ngủ, hợp ngồi ngẩn ngơ
chuyện trò hợp những vẩn vơ
đi về hợp lối,
giấc mơ hợp đời

Hà Nội, 11/2021
(happy match-versary!)

make a splash

If you know me, you might know that I’m super enthusiastic about dating apps.
If you know me a bit better, you might also know that I haven’t been swiping for over 5 months now.

I still receive notifications from Bumble and Tinder though – those nudges that they send you when you haven’t been back on the apps for a while.

I wouldn’t say that I wrote this piece – I just put together and rearranged words from those notifications. The words here belong to Bumble, and the illustration is a stock image. The style is inspired by (and quite frankly, stolen from) this guy who turned his girlfriend’s sleep talking into Rupi Kaur-like poems.

This is also done as a little throwback to my Bachelor’s thesis on Bumble, which was started around this time last year.

To the splashes and waves that we all wanna make.

Hà Nội, 04/2021