No More Hiding: An Interview With Hieu Minh Nguyen
Hieu Minh Nguyen’s poetry has been published or is forthcoming in Devil’s Lake, The Journal, Southern Indiana Review, Vinyl, Muzzle, The Paris-American, and Indiana Review. Hieu is a Kundiman fellow, a recipient of the VERVE grant from Intermedia Arts, the Minnesota Emerging Writers’ Grant from The Loft Literary Center, and a recipient of the University of Arizona Poetry Center’s Summer Residency. His debut collection of poetry, This Way to the Sugar (Write Bloody Publishing, 2014), was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award, and the Lambda Literary Award. He is currently living in Minneapolis.
Glappitnova is building a diverse global community of entrepreneurs, creatives, and influencers . We unite everyone for 8 days of eclectic events in Chicago. The opinions expressed here by Glappitnova.com contributors are their own, not those of glappitnova.com, and Glappit LLC. Subscribe to Glappitnova here, or keep up with us on Facebook.
PHILLIP: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SPENDING THIS EARLY MORNING CHATTING WITH ME, HIEU. I AM THRILLED TO SEE WHAT NEW IS HAPPENING ON YOUR END AND TO HEAR ABOUT THE OLD, MEANING ALL OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU’VE GARNERED OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, ALL OF WHICH YOU DESERVE. I WOULD LIKE TO START WITH EARLY INSPIRATION. CAN YOU GIVE US AN OVERVIEW AS TO HOW YOU STARTED WRITING? WHEN DID YOU KNOW OR BEGIN TO KNOW THAT POETRY WOULD BE YOUR AXE AND SHIELD?
Hieu: Thank you so much for having me! I feel like we are having a breakfast date! I started writing poetry in high school. My introduction to poetry was actually through the performance side. I’m sure it’s all very boring. I was a huge theatre kid, but the high school I attended didn’t have traditional theatre classes; the only class available was a social justice theatre class. It actually changed my life. There, we were asked to create our own plays revolving around whatever topics were important to us, often incorporating spoken-word poems. It was when I realized that theatre can be more than just reciting lines that someone else wrote for you. Then through spoken-word and slam poetry, I was introduced to work of poets like Patricia Smith, Rachel McKibbens, and Bao Phi who all got me excited about not only the performance, but the writing aspect of poetry.
P: SOCIAL JUSTICE THEATRE CLASS! THAT IS A NEW IDEA. LET’S TALK A BIT ABOUT SLAM POETRY. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE SLAM WORLD? WHAT TEAMS HAVE YOU REPRESENTED? I WANT TO ALSO DELVE INTO WHAT SEEMS LIKE A NEW RESPECT FOR SLAM POETRY BY THE PAGE POETRY WORLD. FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER, THERE WAS THIS WEIRD TENSION BETWEEN PAGE AND STAGE THAT NEVER QUITE MADE SENSE. DID YOU EVER FEEL AFFECTED BY THAT TENSION OR HAS THAT ENERGY DISSIPATED?
H: I’ve been in the slam world for about eight years now. My first slam team was actually in 2008 when I was 17. It was the Twin Cities youth poetry slam team, and we got to Washington D.C. to attend Brave New Voices the international youth poetry festival. Since then I’ve been on 6 other slam teams, all hailing from the Twin Cities.
I’ve totally felt that tension. There are a lot of arbitrary boundaries that frame each community. It’s quite silly.
P: AND SPEAKING OF COMMUNITY, HOW HAS COMMUNITY ASSISTED YOU NOW AS A POET? OUTSIDE OF THE SLAM COMMUNITY (BUT ALSO INCLUDING IT) WHAT ARE SOME COMMUNITIES THAT YOU HOLD DEAR THAT HAVE MENTORED YOU INTO THE INDIVIDUAL POET YOU ARE? IS COMMUNITY NECESSARY TO BE A SUCCESSFUL POET?
H: It’s really hard for me to use such a sterile and vague word like “community,” when talking about people I consider my family. The family I’ve made through poetry knows me better than anyone else. They’re my first readers and the people I put down for my emergency contact. I was also lucky enough to attend the Kundiman writing retreat for Asian American poets last summer. Y’know, I can say all the cliche things about safe space, or I can just say, I’m the luckiest boy.
P: THIS WAY TO SUGAR, PUBLISHED BY WRITE BLOODY PUBLISHING, HAS GOTTEN WONDERFUL REVIEWS AND SUPPORT FROM ALL OVER. MOST RECENTLY, YOU WERE A FINALIST FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS (POETRY). CONGRATULATIONS ON ALL OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. WHAT WAS THE GENESIS OF THIS BOOK? WHEN DID YOU REALIZE THAT YOUR POEMS BECAME A MOMENT OF “WAIT, THIS IS BECOMING BIGGER THAN I’D THOUGHT?”
H: The oldest poems in the book are the only things that survived the first manuscript I tried to put together when I was 21. It was filled with vague anthemic poem that were all very dishonest. It was complete trash. Like, whatever I am in the next life will still cringe when I think about those poems. Like, those poems are so bad they transcend time and space. So when I was done dry heaving from embarrassment, I extracted the very few poems I liked and went from there. Most of the poems were poems that didn’t make any sense to anyone else. So This Way to the Sugar came from allowing myself to write about the things I was trying to hide from.
P: ARE YOU NO LONGER HIDING?
H: Oh no. Of course I am. Hiding is my favorite sport. Though sometimes I feel like everyone knows where I’m hiding, they’re just not interested in finding me. Which is a good thing, I think.
P: I THINK EVERYONE FEELS AS THOUGH THEY KNOW THE OTHER PERSON’S HIDING PLACE BECAUSE THEY, TOO, ARE IN HIDING. MAYBE IT’S A KIND OF UNWANTED EMPATHY. IN YOUR POEM “REUNION”, YOU WRITE “YOU CAN’T THINK OF REGRET AS A TOWN/ YOU MOVE TO WHEN GRIEF SNORES TOO LOUD/ IN EVERY ROOM.” CAN YOU SPEAK ON THE CREATION OF THIS POEM AND WHAT ONE CAN THINK OF REGRET AS BEING? WHAT IS REGRET TO YOU AND DO YOU FIND IT SOMETIMES HELPFUL?
H: Grief often disguises itself. After my grandmother passed away, and my mother and I scattered her ashes in Vietnam, I felt as though we made a huge mistake. Never again will I be near her. The poem came, when I wanted grief to be obvious. I wanted a tombstone with her name. I wanted visit her on her birthday, to cry next to her in a black dress. I wanted grief to wear ordinary clothes. Yes. I find regret incredibly helpful. Along with embarrassment, I feel like regret is another path to being honest.
P: THAT’S POWERFUL. HONESTY IS CONSIDERED TO BE PART OF A POET’S JOB AFTER ALL, BUT THAT IS ALSO WITH ITS INTANGIBLES. SOMETIMES, FOR A POET, A GOOD LIE IS A TRUTH. WHAT HAVE BEEN SOME CHALLENGES YOU’VE FACED THAT MADE WRITING SEEM LIKE SOMETHING THAT YOU MAY HAVE HAD TO STOP? HAS IDENTIFYING AS A GAY POET, A VIETNAMESE AMERICAN, A WRITER EVEN ADDED UNEXPECTED (OR EXPECTED) CHALLENGES? HOW HAVE THESE IDENTITIES FED YOU AS A HUMAN BEING?
H: The thing about identity is that it all makes sense to the people who share those common traits. Often, as a queer person or as a person of color, we are asked to explain ourselves, our cultures, explain why something is racist/queerphobic/fucked up. We are expected to the teach people who hurt us a way of hurting us less, while at the same time expected to be patient and kind—and then when you add the fact that you’re a writer/poet on top of it, that expectation is heightened. For some reason, people have it in their minds that poets know the answers to things. A lot of us don’t. A friend once asked me, “How are we not crying all of the time?” A lot of us are, or a lot of us spend a lot of energy trying not to. Haha, sorry. I’m not sure if that answers your question.
P: HOW DID YOU CELEBRATE FINALIZING FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD IN POETRY? WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING THERE, KNOWING THAT YOU HAD REACHED SOMETHING SO HIGH AND HAVE EVEN MORE PRAISE WAITING FOR YOU.
H: I was lucky enough to get a chance to celebrate with one of my best friends, fellow nominee and the eventual award winner, Danez Smith. Danez and I actually went to high school together. He’s the person I’ve known the longest in poetry community and it was so much fun celebrating with him. By end of the night, the server walking around the after party with the platter of chicken would roll his eyes every time he saw me approaching. Which is fine. He’s a hater. The shrimp guy, though. He was my best friend.
P: THANK YOU AGAIN FOR SPEAKING WITH ME. WHERE CAN PEOPLE LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WORK? WHAT’S NEW ON THE HORIZON FOR YOU?
H: Thank you so much for reaching out! I have a website! You can go to hieuminhnguyen.com if you want. —new? Hmmm. I’m currently working on a second collection of poetry. It’s about time travel. That’s really it. Thank you again, Phillip!!
comments
