Guest Post – Kathy Nguyen and Her Writing Space

Space: it is something to fill or be filled. As a poet who can focus on one subject or object with intense fascination for long periods of time, I have a nomadic soul. I am a solitary wanderer who constantly asks the why and how and listens to nothing and everything at the same time. Perhaps I am on a journey to fill my every writing with truth and goodness. Perhaps writing is a way to create a tiny space for myself independently from this world, yet to make sense of this world and love it. My space, my writing space has gone beyond writing on paper napkins and on the back of receipts of typical writers. It’s been scribbled on Post-it notes, cell phone, junk mail, sidewalks, and crossword puzzles. However, not only is space physical, there is also the intangible part of it too. That intangible space is as natural as breathing. It is the moment between mindfulness and creation. Something that happens on a continuum and expands to the universe. Because of these thoughts and feelings, I literally write-on-the-go, and so my writing space happens spontaneously on whatever I have at hand for composition (a leaf, markers, magnetic words, etc.), wherever I am, and whatever I happen to be doing at that particular moment in time. I could go and name these many places (and spaces) of writing, but I narrowed them down to my two main ones: my study room and the paved trails at the local park.

The Space I Fill: The Study Room

When I first moved to my current home in 2005, my study room was originally designed as a dining room because it had a fancy modern chandelier. Now, it still has the chandelier but with a bookcase, lots of fake Vietnamese flowering plants and flowers, and a huge polished wooden table (approx. 1.07 x 2.21 meters) with eight matching chairs all sitting elegantly on recently polished wooden floors. It is comfortable, earthy, and spacious! Because the table is huge, it would be a dismal mess as I would take up nearly 80% of the table for most of the year with the other 20% being my mother’s little “office space,” as she calls it. It would be filled with my junk mail, many art and writing projects in various stages of completion, nursing and science textbooks, poetry, origami, and writing-related books, films or TV shows on DVD, lots of arts and crafts supplies, and many writing implements from pens to markers. However, the most important items I use on a daily basis for writing would be my laptop, writing journal, and planner. I enjoy planning what project I like to work on each day. Based from the photos, my writing space looks neat and tidy because I recently had out-of-town house guests staying at my home for almost a week in late June as well as family reunions recently.  So, this table is at its best at least 3 times a year.

My study room does not have the best view but I can gaze out the window at the sky over the fence and hear the neighbor’s Rottweiler growling at passersby or whimpering into the night:

sighing
the dog and I
chase the Sandman all night…  
our breath disperses
into a wisp of stars*

My study room is like a studio where I can fill in things, to create and experiment. The normally cluttered, multipurpose table is a reflection of my scattered, dynamic thoughts, yet it is also the same place I use for study and reflection, especially when a little space is cleared away for that and when it is most important (e.g., when I am studying for final exams for my nursing courses). There is little room for me to be uninspired because I am surrounded with a good number of poetry and writing-related books and sources as well as my arts and crafts supplies.

So like a nomad, I hoard and I harvest. The only downside to this study room is that I have to share the table with my mother, so it is something I cannot say that it is fully my own nor is it in my bedroom where it is much quieter and free from distractions… I have yet to find a good writing desk one of these days. You can be rest assured that I would be happily filling that desk with all of my favorite things.

The Space to be Filled: On the Trail

The spirit of the poetic nomad is most fulfilled when I am walking or running on the paved trails at the local park. Compared to my study room, this writing space is even more earthy and spacious! I love the fact that the trail is soothing and stimulating at the same time. It gives me a clear mind and heightens all of my senses, especially my sense of hearing, as I am running under the dappled foliage folding over like a bridge above my head.

blowing a song into my opened water bottle… sudden breeze**

~|~|~|~|~|~|~

chu-ly, chu-ly, chu-ly
your song like a flute
fills in the many staircases
of leaves and leaning logs
between the dimming sunlight (from “Gradations of
a Birdsong”)**

Whenever I am feeling sluggish and unmotivated physically, spiritually, psychologically, or cognitively, finding my way around the bends of this trail is a way for me to unravel and let myself be filled with nature and to be alone with my thoughts and emotions. Whenever I am on the trail (even when I am not feeling unmotivated in any way), I become the writing space as nature weaves its words and lines into my head like a song (I have dubbed this experience as poetry-on-the run). By the time I come home and sit down to write in my study room, all of those words and lines are more than just a song; they are a memory falling together into a complete poem with very few revisions. It is similar to how a person folds a paper in half in the language of origami. If you unfold it, the paper will try to refold itself with the first crease you made; the paper has memory. My writing experience after hitting the trail is very much like the origami folds, and sometimes those folds get more complex.

Whenever complexity happens, I have a pen, folded-up paper, a tiny notebook, and my cell phone in my fanny pack to record those poetic lines right on the spot. I like to think that I could be the next William Carlos Williams one day as he was a physician-poet! For me, human nature and nature are both a science and an art that I like to study with the kind of fascination I mentioned earlier. Understanding nature, however, is a way for us to understand ourselves… and life as depicted in many Eastern philosophies. For me, though, I merge both schools of thought.

There are very few disadvantages of having the trail as my writing space. Sometimes when it gets heavily crowded with bikers and walkers, I lose my momentum of running and composing. I wish there were more trees to cover the coneflower grassy field during warm and very hot months. I wish there were more water fountains for us to stop by and rest and a little pond in the shadier parts of the trail as a good way to sit and meditate. However, I do not dwell very long on the downsides to the park trails. Most of the time, I am thrilled with how endless and ageless nature makes me feel despite my vulnerability, and I accept that. My poetic spirit is a nomad by nature or a truth-seeker, even as dynamic and ever-changing as a chameleon. There is no such thing as never for me when it comes to writing; there is always a space (or place) to write if you make that space happen!

In fact, instead of singing in the shower like most people, I’m mumbling lines or composing poems in my head (it sounds like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings), but that’s another story for another day. Blessings to you, dear friends and readers! Namasté!

FOOTNOTES:

* This poem was written with this essay.
**Both poems are found on Origami Lotus Stones blog.

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ACKNOWLEGEMENTS:

I would like to thank my longtime friend and writer, Mark, for inviting me to participate in this exciting series. It is such an honor and a surprise. Mark has seen the growth and development of my poetry over the years and has been one of the longtime supporters of my work. I must say that writing about my own writing space is a whole lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Thank you for the challenge and the opportunity to talk about something I have never really discussed in depth before!

I also have many other people to thank too, but the list is far too long. It includes God, my family and relatives, close friends, loved ones, and many poet/writer/artist friends I have had the pleasure of interacting and collaborating with through networking sites. My thanks seem so little but it means so much more than I can ever say.

BIO:

Kathy Uyen Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American poet who is known by her aliases such as A~Lotus, Lotus, and Ambiguitylotus. Her work has appeared in various print and online publications including Lishanu (Issue 2), Pay Attention: A River of Stones, Take 5: Best Contemporary Tanka (Volume 3), Catzilla! Tanka, Kyoka, and Gogyoka About Cats, All Things Girl Ezine, and Four and Twenty Ezine. Recently, one of her poems was ranked in the Top 50 List in the 2011 April Poem-A-Day (PAD) Challenge Contest at Poetic Asides with Robert Lee Brewer. Aside from being a poet, she is currently a post-baccalaureate nursing student, an origami enthusiast, a film buff, a voracious reader, yogi, runner, and a lover of science, art, and religion/spirituality.

More of her work can be found at the following:

• Poetry by Lotus  – main blog with various art/writing projects and updates
• Origami Lotus Stones  – small stones blog
• Twitter