Aging US ex-pat finds poetry, ’beautiful women’ in Vietnam

This is the favorite poem of American poet Thomas Ames, taken from his book "Inside the Circle". At 71 years old, he is always mindful of his past and how he has spent his time.

"Flying Away

Watch my wings

I fly away

call me back

my name is time.

Moving faster

growing older

look again

now I’m gone."

This is the favorite poem of American poet Thomas Ames, taken from his book "Inside the Circle".

At 71 years old, he is always mindful of his past and how he has spent his time.

"I started this poem in America and finished in Viet Nam," Ames told Viet Nam News.

For the past two years, he has spent much of his time travelling around Viet Nam.

Thomas Ames (standing) and composer Huu Xuan. Courtesy Photos of Thomas Ames

Ames retired from the marine industry as a boat captain of offshore oil field boats, carrying supplies to and from the land and oil rigs. He is from a military family and has travelled all his life. His first memories are of Japan when he was 3, 4 and 5 years old. He also lived in Germany twice and attended high school in Taiwan. His living in Thailand before coming to Viet Nam convinced him of his appreciation of Asia.

"This traveling and living in other countries has given me a way to compare Viet Nam to other places and I like it here. I see similarities and differences between countries I have lived in, places are like people, they have a personality, countries are created by traditions and culture. I have spent about a third of my time visiting and exploring places in Vietnam and I am trying to see the whole country," he said.

"I like what I see here and how Viet Nam makes me feel, this is a country not fashioned by a franchise type lifestyle, there is more than meets the eye, but finding the real Vietnam requires time. Viet Nam has many interesting sights to see, it is more than the UNESCO Heritage sites, waterfalls, caves and beautiful beaches, Viet Nam is the people, too"!

His favorite food is "pho" and in the future plans to take Vietnamese lessons to communicate better and build his vocabulary, but finds the language difficult and can only hope to be able to speak in the next couple of years.

His goal is, "to read, write and speak Vietnamese with which I can compose poetry in the Vietnam language," Ames said, "you need to live here for awhile to know Viet Nam, I see tourists come, stay in each city for three or four days as they travel the country. I wonder how much they are getting. The coffee is great, the women are beautiful and this peaceful country is an oasis in the middle of a torn world".

He started writing poems in high school and has recently published his first poetry collection titled "Inside the Circle" in Viet Nam. His collection of 50 poems in English were translated by seven poets from Ho Chi Minh City. Some of the poems have been put to music by composers/musicians such as Huu Xuan with "Essence of Love"; Kieu Tan on Youtube with "Nha Trang Calling" and "Before Words".

About half of the poems in the book were written in Viet Nam, including seven poems about Viet Nam’s cities.

"I write for my own pleasure and like to write "free verse", the feeling of creating a good poem appeals to me, I enjoy this part of writing," he said, "when I retired I decided to take some poetry workshops to learn more about crafting a poem, writing is something I enjoy, so I pursue it".

Veteran composer Huu Xuan, has translated some of these poems into Vietnamese and composed a song from one of the poems named "Essence of Love".

Xuan did not hide his admiration of the American poet when talking to Viet Nam News on the phone.

"I found his poems strange but real. He shares his interesting views on the life, on the god, on the human-to-human relationships. He especially loves Viet Nam in his poems. He has written some on Viet Nam’s landscapes, I feel as if he were a Vietnamese person writing about his country", Xuan said, "I find Thomas to be an honest and friendly person".