​The Reddest Summer
By Khoi (Thomas) Tran
Winner of 2024 Write the World Poetry & Spoken Word Competition
Thirty years draping sunrise on satin hush
pouring love into a fragile, chipped cup,
hoping it won't spill into oblivion
you ebb away, sacrifice seven silent
offerings on the dais, bleed hearth and home.
Banyan roots, bony hands, ancient baobabs calling
your name, dreams bearing bitter
persimmons in the orchard. I see them
all plopping and losing momentum,
shriveling at the tips of your toes as
you alchemise geode and hearts of Gods that once
made you stoop down to their feet. Years later, you remain
eternalised, seeping in the color of your country,
red with ianthine bruises; as once on your knees you
now stand tall against your shadow. Revolutions
went by and you still stare at me with the same
conviction and friction, as if I would
stop rotating. Yet, my face, as if the moon,
illuminates eternally. Yours, as if monsoon,
continues to swallow everything
but the light I illuminate. When you are gone,
that same landscape will forever lie on my tongue,
as I remember about the reddest summer.
Khoi is the editor-in-chief of Dimly Writ Literature Magazine. He is recognised by The Poetry Society, the John Locke Institute at Oxford and Princeton, Write the World founded at Harvard University, and the Moscow International Salon of Inventions and Innovative Technologies. He is passionate about theology, poetry and prose. He is also the author of Endemic and Native Fauna of Vietnam, a children’s book blending scientific illustration and storytelling, distributed nationwide through Fahasa, Vietnam’s largest bookstore. Alongside his written work, Khoi has distinguished himself as a literary advocate who situates writing within a broader cultural and social mission.