Saigon: The Widow of April

For more than half a century, April 30, 1975 has carried different meanings for Vietnamese people. While it is celebrated in Vietnam, many Vietnamese overseas remember the fall of Saigon with sorrow—a day once called the Day of National Grievance and later widely remembered as Black April.

In The Widow of April, Saigon is personified as a grieving widow carrying the wounds of war, separation, and exile. Yet this collection is not an anthem of resentment. Its message is simple: hate kills, but love heals.

The poems reach beyond the fall of Saigon to reflect on Vietnam’s long history of foreign domination, colonialism, division, and war—and on the enduring desire of its people to live in peace.

The Widow of April invites us to remember the past without remaining captive to it: let the widow weep for what was, so that we may embrace the healing of what is.