Ocean Vuong: The Ultimate Lyrical Alchemist

Here's something that I've never told anybody, not even myself. 

I am apparently really fond of Greek mythology.

(Yes I was that one guy who would binge all of the Percy Jackson books back in the day)

And before anyone asks me as an enjoyer of video games, 

Yes, I have played Hades. It is definitely a great game that I should have enjoyed more if I wasn't so bad at Roguelites.

Anyhoos, moving on.

The reason I mention all of this is because a certain poem caught my eye as I was scrolling through a gigantic list of poetry: "Eurydice" by Ocean Vuong

One of the greek myths that I've been very intrigued about for a couple years now is the tragic story about Orpheus and Eurydice. Being someone who's very familiar with the myth, I can't help but recognize how Ocean Vuong reformulates it into a poem while incorporating his own style.

Before I move on, I should give a little bit of background on Ocean Vuong. Vuong is a Vietnamese-American poet, essayist, and novelist who received numerous awards, which includes a Rosenberg fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, a 2016 Whiting Award, and the 2017 T. S. Eliot Poetry Prize. He is also a receipient of a MacArthur Grant in 2019.

Although he is most certainly an accomplished poet and writer, his childhood was not the easiest to say the least. He was born in Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam in a orphanage refugee camp where his mother was separated from his aunts due to Sargon falling to communist forces. When Vuong was two years old, his family fled to the Philippines before migrating to the United States after a police officer came to suspect that Vuong's mother was of mixed heritage, which left her prone to discrimination by the regime's labour policies at the time. Vuong and his six relatives settled in Hartford, Connecticut, where his father decided to abandon the family. At one point in time at just 15 years old, Ocean Vuong even worked on an illegal tobacco farm, in which he actually describes his experiences in his debut novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. He later attended Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury Connecticut, in which he mentions that his G.P.A at a certain period was just 1.7. After he graduated, he attempted to study marketing at Mancheter Community College until he left, realizing that Economics wasn't for him. He later enrolled at Brooklyn College in N.Y.C, where he studied English Literature under poet and novelist Ben Lerner, where he received his B.A. English and his M.F.A in poetrylater at New York University.

Now, let's take a look at Ocean Vuong's "Eurydice"

It’s more like the sound
a doe makes
when the arrowhead
replaces the day
with an answer to the rib’s
hollowed hum. We saw it coming
but kept walking through the hole
in the garden. Because the leaves
were bright green & the fire
only a pink brushstroke
in the distance. It’s not
about the light—but how dark
it makes you depending
on where you stand.
Depending on where you stand
his name can appear like moonlight
shredded in a dead dog’s fur.
His name changed when touched
by gravity. Gravity breaking
our kneecaps just to show us
the sky. We kept saying Yes—
even with all those birds.
Who would believe us
now? My voice cracking
like bones inside the radio.
Silly me. I thought love was real
& the body imaginary.
But here we are—standing
in the cold field, him calling
for the girl. The girl
beside him. Frosted grass
snapping beneath her hooves. 

Although it doesn't explicity mention the myth Orpheus and Eurydice, it's very clear that this poem is written about it once you have read it. Just like in the legendary Greek Mythology, the poem explores themes of love, loss, memory, among other tragic themes. Vuong takes the story about how a musician, Orpheus loses his wife to a snake bite and dives into the underworld to bring her back under certain conditions, and reimagines it into his own way. The first line referencing the doe and the arrowhead replacing the day, directly parallels the sudden action and bleakness of death as it takes the life of Eurydice in the myth. The phrase "..depending on where you stand, his name can appear like moonlight..." reflects the idea that viewpoints are extremely influential, as it was the way that Orpheus interpretted his love for Eurydice and the situation that he made the ultimate decision to confront Hades with his music in his attempt to bring her back. The lines "My voice crackling like bones inside the radio" mimics the heartbreaking moment where Orpheus fails the condition granted by Hades when he almost suceeds and loses Eurydice forever in the scorching underworld. This line is quite cleverly written because in real life scenarios or commonly found in movies, it usually when a person's voice crackles in a radio "like bones" that grave trouble or death is imminent for that person. 

Overall, it is how Ocean Vuong takes inspiration from many different sources, whether it be his own life, or legendary myths or epics, blends them in a cauldron with his own unique, lyrical voice and creates a masterpiece that really connects with his audience (me included). This is why I consider him the ultimate lyrical alchemist of poetry.