Quiet

"Home Alone", a painting by a Viet vet

Quiet

Hold me tight while the sun is still asleep
Kiss me wholeheartedly while the moonlight is still deep
The silky clouds are dancing a swan-song
Don't wander anymore, here's my love for you to keep...

Linh Duy Vo
September 17, 2002 ©

"I read the 'Quiet' poem and gave a copy to Irene after the wedding ceremony in Brisbane last weekend. It was such a beautiful ceremony. The minister thanked me for reading such a powerful verse. So, dear friend, I thank you for writing it!" 8/19/2004 12:58:18 AM

An Essay for a Vietnamese American Fine Artist

By Linh Duy Vo, Poet

One can feel a deep faith radiant from the life story of this Vietnamese American, Truong Buu Giam, as firm as his handshake; as extraordinary as his brush strokes; as brilliant as his unique, personal discovery of mixed media colors.

The Vietnam War ended on the last day of April, 1975, but the struggle for life began anew for countless refugees whose hearts hunger for freedom, leaving behind every piece of personal possession, and the country of birth. Truong Buu Giam was fortunate to be embraced by this precious freedom, without which his gifted art can never be nurtured and cannot survive. His paintings now soar spiritually above the corners of America and around the world.

Truong Buu Giam was born on Christmas Eve, 1948, in the province of Bên Tre, South Vietnam. His parents felt grateful on the birth of their fifth child. They named the infant Buu Giam with a fateful meaning: Preserving the Precious and the Beautiful. Already in elementary school, his teachers loved to have him come to the chalkboard and draw pictures so other children could copy. A well-known artist after successful exhibitions in his hometown, Giam was admitted to the National Ecole Superieure of Fine Arts in Saigon, the first and foremost school of fine arts in South Vietnam. Giam graduated in 1970.

The patriotic debt was due after graduation. The artist joined the South Vietnam Navy, fighting the communists from the North. Life on board a battleship, with its moments of terror, did not prevent the artist from capturing on canvas the beauty of the deep blue ocean.

Giam cherished the memory in which he once confused his new benevolent American friends about his being a painter (un peintre). They sought out a new job for Giam, as a painter painting apartments!

Life is not without many ups and downs for Giam. His achievements have always been blessed, in his thinking and in his heart. His technique is reminiscent of the spirit of the Oriental art passed on for thousands of years and he blends it within the Western culture. Giam has won awards of excellence. His works were published by international publishers and exhibited and sold around the world.

Three decades have come and gone. This artist stands among the best.

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