Ngoc M. Ha
Holy Saturday, Acrylic & Graphite, 31”x46”
I will love you all the time, Risograph, 7.5”x6.5” (Print Size)
I am newborn at this age of 22, when I should be ripe
I see you,
I’ve always been terribly clumsy with my expressions
that’s why I write despite my shortcomings
You have a photo of me at the top of your piano that I bashfully turnaround
and you flip it facing towards yourself because you
are an uninhibited force
before we meant anything more than friends
I would kiss the top of your head shyly
I would hold your trembling body in cold rivers
You are the sweetness of scattered orange daffodils that bloom on the hills of 85 South
the fragrance of tobacco dew steeped in the humidity of your hometown‘s summer twilight
I see you,
I’ve always been terribly clumsy with my expressions
that’s why I write despite my shortcomings
You have a photo of me at the top of your piano that I bashfully turnaround
and you flip it facing towards yourself because you
are an uninhibited force
before we meant anything more than friends
I would kiss the top of your head shyly
I would hold your trembling body in cold rivers
You are the sweetness of scattered orange daffodils that bloom on the hills of 85 South
the fragrance of tobacco dew steeped in the humidity of your hometown‘s summer twilight
nonlinear, 24 paged risograph zine, 4 copies NFS, 9”x5.25” *informal exploration in bookmaking
Snow Angels, Risograph Print, 8”x11”
When I wear the flower pin you gifted me across my chest, it looks like it’s emerging from the chamber of my heart.
you gave me this pin when we first met, probably less than a month before we truly knew eachother.
I remember that I was very moved by this,
at the time though I could only think of it as a thoughtful gesture.
Less than two weeks after we met you told a good friend of yours that you were in love with me because I held your hands,
swinging them gently while we sang The Carpenters
you saw me with a tenderness that I couldn’t fathom having
a person with a cartoonish flower grown
from the depths of her bosom
and I have never known something more true
as I am
as I was not
as you have seen me
how eternally grateful
as I am regretful
When I wear the flower pin you gifted me across my chest, it looks like it’s emerging from the chamber of my heart.
you gave me this pin when we first met, probably less than a month before we truly knew eachother.
I remember that I was very moved by this,
at the time though I could only think of it as a thoughtful gesture.
Less than two weeks after we met you told a good friend of yours that you were in love with me because I held your hands,
swinging them gently while we sang The Carpenters
you saw me with a tenderness that I couldn’t fathom having
a person with a cartoonish flower grown from the depths of her bosom
and I have never known something more true
as I am
as I was not
as you have seen me
how eternally grateful
as I am regretful
Perfect Stranger, Silk Screen on Newsprint, 21”x48”
(10.5”x16” each)
(10.5”x16” each)
Mustang Sunset, Etching
Underneath Shut Eyelids, Color Pencil on Paper, 5.5”x4.5” each
This nonchalance cannot last forever,
I know that at heart I am a sentimental girl
When I was 19 I asked the world
Where does love go when it’s gone ?
My lack of it these days scare me
To remember, I revert back into a child like state
look ahead through the lenses of a starry eyed wonder
Through a viewfinder I see myself,
underneath shady trees, swinging gently
lapses of the sun flashing underneath my shut eyelids
Whispering to you in my younger self’s softness
I know that at heart I am a sentimental girl
When I was 19 I asked the world
Where does love go when it’s gone ?
My lack of it these days scare me
To remember, I revert back into a child like state
look ahead through the lenses of a starry eyed wonder
Through a viewfinder I see myself,
underneath shady trees, swinging gently
lapses of the sun flashing underneath my shut eyelids
Whispering to you in my younger self’s softness
It's hard for me to comprehend change even at a scale like this
like most things that brush you softly in life
. It's always jarring watching a friend disappear, and I felt this mysty feeling especially as of lately with the direction this city is going. Asian Corner mall was a huge cultural landmark for the deceptively big Asian community here in Charlotte North Carolina. I get watery eyed thinking of this location as my parents used to take me all the time as a child.
I remember when the building used to be crowded and the water hole in the center was filled.
Over the years it was odd seeing the pond get dryer and the crowds get smaller, the benches didn't seem so tall anymore. I remember spending hours climbing on these very benches with my older brother, looking for quarters to ride the old electric horses. I'd always get a banh mi and yeo's sua dau nanh for lunch, I spent my highschool graduation in the dim sum restaurant down the hall, and watched costumed dragons dance in the streets on Lunar New Years. I randomly got my hair cut during the pandemic (regretfully) inside when no one was around. I got a little taste of what it was like to see this place abandoned.
There's a melancholy I can't shake seeing my childhood disappear and walking through the bones of what was once my casual Sunday stop. Small moments in my childhood that seemed insignificant but monumental in shaping me. As a child on slow afternoons when my mom used to leave me in the center lobby to go grocery shopping I'd daydream about being stuck here afterhours on my own, sleeping, eating, living. As an adult I didn't expect to meet so many great people who also have a similar affection for this place. This is a surreal moment and I'm happy to be able to spend a little bit of time, even hanging up my art and laughing with friends afterhours.
I remember when the building used to be crowded and the water hole in the center was filled.
Over the years it was odd seeing the pond get dryer and the crowds get smaller, the benches didn't seem so tall anymore. I remember spending hours climbing on these very benches with my older brother, looking for quarters to ride the old electric horses. I'd always get a banh mi and yeo's sua dau nanh for lunch, I spent my highschool graduation in the dim sum restaurant down the hall, and watched costumed dragons dance in the streets on Lunar New Years. I randomly got my hair cut during the pandemic (regretfully) inside when no one was around. I got a little taste of what it was like to see this place abandoned.
There's a melancholy I can't shake seeing my childhood disappear and walking through the bones of what was once my casual Sunday stop. Small moments in my childhood that seemed insignificant but monumental in shaping me. As a child on slow afternoons when my mom used to leave me in the center lobby to go grocery shopping I'd daydream about being stuck here afterhours on my own, sleeping, eating, living. As an adult I didn't expect to meet so many great people who also have a similar affection for this place. This is a surreal moment and I'm happy to be able to spend a little bit of time, even hanging up my art and laughing with friends afterhours.
Colored Tenderness, Watercolor on Paper, each 9”x11”
Loveless, Oil on Canvas, 24”x36”
Swan’s Sonnet Swallow Me, Oil on Canvas, 42”x54”