Aubade with Burning City

Ocean Vuong is a preeminent voice in contemporary American literature. The acclaimed poet and writer uses precise language and striking imagery to explore a variety of topics, including Vietnamese American heritage, queer identity, personal mythology, and the human heart. A true modern poet, Vuong experiments freely with form and pushes words to their descriptive limits. Critics have described his work as raw, expansive, visceral, and tender. Although many of his poems start from deep-rooted pain and enduring suffering, he has a remarkable talent for gleaning hope and meaning from the direst circumstances. This is because his candid approach is undergirded with profound love for the subjects of his poems, as exemplified in “Aubade with Burning City.”

“Aubade with Burning City” is part of a series of poems that explores Vuong’s family history, beginning with his grandparents’ relationship during the Vietnam War. In this free-verse poem, Vuong ponders a bizarre detail from the 1975 Fall of Saigon: As North Vietnamese forces took the city at the end of April, American radio stations played Irving Berlin's song “White Christmas” over and over. Vuong captures the absurd contrast of this moment by weaving saccharine lyrics through the lines of his poem next to descriptions of violence and destruction.