Transcript: Poems on Air, Episode 57 - Hao Nguyen

The following transcript is provided for accessibility only. Layout, formatting, and typography of poems may differ from the original text. We recommend referring to the original, published works when possible to experience the poems as intended by their authors.

[Music intro]

LYNNE THOMPSON: Hello! My name is Lynne Thompson, Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles and I’m so happy to welcome listeners to this installment of Poems on Air, a podcast supported by the Los Angeles Public Library. Every week, I’ll present the work of poets I admire, poets who you should know, and poets who have made a substantial and inimitable contribution to the art and craft of poetry.

LYNNE THOMPSON: This week Poems on Air begins its celebration of the finalists for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Prize by spotlighting the poet, Hoa Nguyen. Nguyen was born in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, and subsequently educated in the U.S. Currently residing in Canada, she won the 2017 Griffin Prize and has taught widely from Princeton to St. Mary’s College of California as well as at the Banff Centre for the Arts, to name a few. Her work has been widely published and reminds us that some atrocities continue, inexplicably, to occur.

LYNNE THOMPSON: Today’s poem is "Napalm Notes" by Hoa Nguyen.

Napalm Notes


		Developed in secret
		at Harvard     produced

		by Dow Chemical
		An efficient incendiary formula

		perfected on Valentine’s Day
		1942            A thickened

		gasoline      Can be
		dropped from planes

			[stanza break]
		
		(napalm bombs)
		also flamethrowers

		8 million tons of bombs
		in Vietnam     Burns at

		1,500-2,200ºF (1/5th as hot
		as the surface of the sun)

		Very sticky           stable
		also             relatively cheap

LYNNE THOMPSON: The Los Angeles Poet Laureate was created as a joint program between the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles Public Library and this podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

[Music outro]

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    • DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a certified or verbatim transcript, but rather represents only the context of the class or meeting, subject to the inherent limitations of real-time captioning. The primary focus of real-time captioning is general communication access and as such this document is not suitable, acceptable, nor is it intended for use in any type of legal proceeding. Transcript provided by the author.

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