Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Why We Read Stories”
We are nostalgic for all the lives we did not live, all the loves we did not have, all the beds we did not wake up in, all the secrets we did not share, all the conversations that we missed, all the times we were not there to see it all.
All these lives go on, pass on, and we are unaware of it all, being limited to our own small spheres of existence, all happening under the same sky (which is something of a consolation).
And this is why we read stories. We read stories in order to live infinite lives that could not be possible otherwise.
And love functions as
a journey where
all you want
is understanding,
a returning to familiar lands,
a touching of familiar hands,
a light upon a face that marks
its trace
in the air you breathe
in the path you walk
in the words you talk.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “The Function of Love”
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Mortality Part II”
You are as distant to me as a star,
and like a star,
long after your death
your light still reaches me
through the blackness of night.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “A Sudden Absence”
If you are what you eat,
then I would like to eat
the stars of
your eyes,
drink from the cup of your heart,
lick the tears of your wounds.
You are like a flower
I would like to consume
So I could be as lovely and beautiful.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Becoming”
Upon your head is anointed the holiness of life.
Instead of bowing under the heaviness of the burden,
raise up like a ship upon the sea.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Ship”
You are like a god offering a flower to me.
For you hold in the palm of your hand
All of the sky and all of the sea.
Nothing in this world can express half of your beauty.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “In the Palm of Your Hand”
Between me and the world,
you are [...]
a hesitation before the leap,
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “After Bei Dai (A Bouquet)”
The beauty and tragedy of life is thinking that one heart can encompass it all without breaking.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Audacity”
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Fortune Cookies”
Books:
I am your guide. In me you seek castles and mountains and the unraveling of truths.
Trees:
We are a million breaths breathing.
Heart:
I speak not a word, for I understand in silence, I see in blindness, I cry in darkness.
Eyes:
I am two moons reflecting the light within.
Night:
A witness to your solitude, an enemy to your thoughts, an inspiration for your dreams, a monster knocking at your door.
[…]
Grass:
I will grow above you and your mother and your father, and all those who will lie beneath me in the days to come.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “What We Speak”
Unspeakable memories ache within you:
Your bones a map of cracks.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Untitled Titles”
In the last battle,
all that remains
are impressions:
Memories played out
in our age of innocence,
stardust for those
eleven kinds of loneliness.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Untitled Titles”
Your body will grow older
But the sun will still burn
and your bones will still warm
at the touch of heat
from the light through your window.
And the birds will still sing their oracles
and the same things will make you sad.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “And So It Is”
I reckon the flame that was lit
inside me
came from that which
moves the grass and the sea.
It seeks its own face
in mine.
In me it exists. In me, it is free.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Untitled”
Who am I? Am I spirit?
Am I deep or shallow?
I am from the stars
and of this earth.
Dieu Dinh, Tender Cracks; “Me and the Stars (Juvenilia)”