"During Buddhist monk Ly Van Aggadipo's final days, he wrote often in a notebook. Temple followers knew the nonagenarian spiritual mentor to many local Cambodian refugees was recording some sort of personal history, but they weren't sure what.'He told me, 'When I'm gone, make sure others read this so people don't forget what happened,' ' follower Sokhar Sao said. 'I didn't really understand until he was gone.'Next month, friends and followers will release a book of poetry by Ly Van, who survived the brutal communist Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and later led the Glory Buddhist Temple in Lowell from 1988 until his death in January 2008. The book, titled 'O! Maha Mount Dangrek,' is a collection of two lengthy poems: one an autobiographical piece on the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, the other about a friend's story of love in the time of genocide."
Further proof that poetry is just another word for witness.
No comments:
Post a Comment