The 'oral' pen name of poet To Huu

To Huu is a great poet of Vietnamese revolutionary literature. He was born in 1920 in Phu Lai village, Quang Dien district (Thua Thien Hue). He joined the revolution in 1937 and held many important positions in Party, State and literary and artistic agencies.

His real name is Nguyen Kim Thanh, and he is also affectionately called Anh Lanh or Uncle Lanh. But he also has a familiar name given to him by the cleaning ladies, Choi Tre (not to be confused with But Tre in Phu Tho province).

The origin of the pen name "mouth" Broom Tre was born in 1961. At that time, the poet's family lived on Phan Dinh Phung Street (Hanoi). Every morning, he exercised, running along the sidewalk. That was also the time when he saw female street sweepers, cleaning the streets. The image of hard work and diligence of the women, repeated many mornings, made the poet very emotional, sympathizing with the work of the women, which poets before him had never written about.

Moved by that image, he composed "The Sound of Bamboo Brooms". The poem was born in 1961 with simple verses:"Summer nights/ When the cicadas/ Have fallen asleep/ I listen/ On Tran Phu street/ The sound of bamboo brooms/ Rustling/ Tamarind rows/ The sound of bamboo brooms/ Summer nights/ Sweeping the trash…".

Soon after, the poem was printed in Nhan Dan newspaper and was immediately known by all the female workers in Hanoi, especially in Ba Dinh district. The next morning, poet To Huu was exercising and met the female workers. Without anyone telling him to, they all smiled and greeted him:

Hello Mr. Bamboo Broom! Hello Mr. Bamboo Broom!

To Huu also smiled happily and replied:

- Hello sisters! Hello brothers!

This story was told by poet To Huu near the end of his life. It was on the morning of December 30, 2001 at the Vietnam Writers Association Hall, 9 Nguyen Dinh Chieu (Hanoi). That day, To Huu went up to receive the award for his memoir "Remembering a Time". After that, he spoke about how he had a "oral" pen name "Choi Tre" which surprised and made the whole hall laugh.

That time, poet To Huu talked for nearly an hour about literature and life. Unexpectedly, that talk was his last talk at the Vietnam Writers Association and only one year later, on December 9, 2002, he passed away forever. Writers of his generation and his juniors, children and grandchildren learned that he had a funny and strange pen name.