from april breaks guns

Bùi Chát

exercise to unify the grammifying lexicon/a silence which merits fear
                                            [not afraid of rejection: following khuc duy & le on]

oc: otter[1]
oedipe: almost hidden [hermetic] enclosure [forge, hammer][2]
ogre: snake[3]
om: viper[4]
ondines: snake of uraeus[5]
bee: teeth[6]
wasp: goatee[7]
orphée: sieve, sift[8]
osiris: rebis[9]
ouranos: axe[10]
ouroboros: hatchet mouth of weasel[11]
oh![outskirts/parasol]: a box to keep valuables[12]
umbrella: a rolling gait[13]
olive: dragon[14]
beech, holly: tortoise[15]
autocar: housefly[16]
slug: intestines[17]
bellows, blowgun: wash, shampoo[18]
genie bottle, spirit bong: jungle[19]
ventilator: trunk [chest][20]
leaky pipe: honey liquor[21]

deception/negligence & a sleeping mat of woven reeds [royal proclamation]

      *references for scrutiny*

[1]shimmy up a guava tree [impartial, disinterested]
[2]pick flower blossoms [merry, radiant]
[3]stroll down into the lily garden [huế]
[4]pluck the bud of adolescence [purple squid/newly attained adulthood]
[5]bud of adolescence [blue squid/age just begun ailing]
[6]poke one's tongue out slightly [gently]
[7]you've sold yourself already [to whom, to whom]
[8]me... [?]
[9]ashen face! [easily frightened]
[10][well well] !!!!
[11]cover the money for an airplane [though a boat would also work]
[12]why don't you splurge [safe-deposit box]
[13]moment/time when things were intact [longingly recall]
[14]now you've had wholeness [money]
[15]like a bird flies [hard to lay]
[16]like a fish beneath the river water [hard to swim]
[17]fish in the river still to be caught [speak truly]
[18]so how to catch the fish in a tank [speak the truth]
[19]which returns to scale the top of the tree [radiant once again]
[20]sit and await the flowers' bloom [a dream life]
[21]extend the hand to touch the branch/& leaves [pity, condolence, grief]

source: [in the index of entries: o & r]. dictionary of global cultural
               symbolism (appendix) – da nang publishing house, literary
               school of nguyen du – october.1997

translated from the Vietnamese by Jack J. Huynh