Vinh Liem

Each period of an existence is naturally bound together with its history and era. Therefore, the Love has to change along with its human's conception and organs of sense. Over a quarter of a century, since April 30, 1975, love and humans have changed. But, one thing has never changed - the LoVietnameseng Poem. A loVietnameseng poem can be written in any form, any language, or any era; it is still a loVietnameseng poem forever. If there is no Love, it's a dead certainty that there is no LoVietnameseng Poem. The author hopes that his readers will welcome this book of poems - "Ties of Affection" (Con V

During my 33 years in the United States, I wrote around two dozen essays in English for my hobbies and my school projects. These essays reflected my view of philosophy, politics, and human rights of the time. Today, I have reviewed them and selected 16 essays for this book - Two Faces of Life. Why did I choose this title? I thought that everybody might have two faces: one for the real person (as same as the front of a medal) and one for the hidden side, where there are secret thoughts and goings-on.

The narrative poem - Lament of The Boat People - and other single poems were written during the international news spread out on the dangerous situation of the Vietnamese boat people on the high seas and in the Gulf of Thailand in the late 70's. Please note that a narrative poem - Lament of The Boat People -- and the single poems were written in Vietnamese and later were translated into English by R. S. Carlson. Thu Ve Hoang Dao Ko Kra (a poem in Vietnamese) has not been translated into English yet. The essays were originally written in English in the mid 70's and 90's. These essays reflected my view of philosophy, politics, and human rights of the time.