Blue Nguyen *

About

Blue Nguyen is a Vietnamese non-binary lesbian poet, artist, and organizer. Inspired by cartography and traditional symbolism in Viet architecture and culture–they research the architecture of grief, giving thanks, and livelihood. They work with poetic syntax, oral history, Vietnamese traditional woodworking, textile, and fiber techniques using organic materials. Their artistic journey began with poetry as a translation on grief, an act of prayer. Now as they research using materials off the page, their work questions what can a poem be made of– prayer as poetics, poetics as prayer. Material as an altar. They have been a fellow at LAMBDA Literary, AIR.HUE, and more. Their work is featured in Palette Poetry, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Peach Mag, and more. Nominated for Best of the Net Anthology and Best New Poets Anthology, their 1st book Hey Siri, What Time is it in Vietnam? is forthcoming with GameOverBooks.In their free time they enjoy creating mixed media art using anything they can find in their apartment, weaving with yarn and fibers, learning how to woodwork, making sweet and slow breakfast in the morning with their girlfriend/người yêu, and singing bird songs to the moon. Blue's poems explore translation as an act of weaving time and grief, as prayer, as apology. Much of blue's work is an ode to their ancestors, their family (chosen and not chosen), their lesbian (t4t) love, and queer Viet grief and joy.you can find them on instagram: @blue.ngu and on twitter: @queerqhost.

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Fundraising for air hue residency *

I’m excited to share that I have the opportunity to attend Air Hue’s Artist Residency (@air.hue on Instagram) in Huế, Vietnam in March 2025. This is a dream come true for me. This residency will allow me to return to my homeland, Vietnam, to create art, poetry, and community with other queer Viet folks.During my time at Air Hue, I will be working on my multidisciplinary art project titled “Cám ơn,” which will combine poetry with various mediums, including weaving, fiber arts, woodworking, and more. This will help me experiment with my poetry further– something I dream of doing– alongside a community of other Queer Viet poets and artists.Thank you for considering supporting my journey! Your contributions and support means the world to me. Any donation whether it be $1 or $100 would be helpful in offsetting the financial burden and barriers to attending the residency! If you’re unable to donate at the moment, no worries. Please help share and spread my fundraiser!Donate on Venmo:
@bluengu(Last 4 digits of my phone number are 2586 in case Venmo asks)!

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Publications *

(sidenote: anything that is underlined is a clickable links!)

Nominated for Best of the Net Anthology
Nominated for Best New Poets Anthology
Featured in WBUR's 2025 Summer Reading ListPoetry featured in:

Digital

Palette Poetry: * some field notes on nostalgia (disguised as a wikipedia page) * 2025
Ghost City Press: * May 2024 Issue * 2024
Peach Magazine: * Peach Magazine, * Video Performance * 2022
Protean Magazine: * Cut Yr Hair *2021
Prolit Magazine: * Issue 5 * 2021
DEAR Poetry Journal: * Blue Nguyen * 2021
The Mantle Poetry: * Issue 14, * Issue 11 * 2021, * 2020
Glass: A Journal of Poetry: * March 2020 Issue * 2020

Print

* Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam x Game Over Books – Loving
& Lasting Anthology ❋ 2024
* Vănguard Zine, Issue 6 ❋ 2024 (featured in the Library of Congress of the United States)
* Red Pocket Press – Year of the Fire Ox Zine ❋ 2021
* Disparities in Violence and Discrimination within the LGBTQ Community, LGBTQ Issues and Themes, The Falconer ❋ 2020
* & more

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Residency/Fellowship *

* 50 Arrow Gallery at Attack Bear Studios. Duo Artist in Residence + Art Exhibition. | June - Aug 2025, Eastworks, Easthampton, MA* Air Hue. Artist in Residence. | March 2025, Huế, Vietnam* LAMBDA Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices. Lambda Fellow in Poetry. Selected by Chen Chen. | 2024, Remote* Fine Arts Work Center Scholarship for Boston Emerging Writers. FAWC Fellow in Poetry. Selected by Porsha Olayiwola and Oliver Baez. | 2023, Provincetown, MA.* Brew and Forge. Fellow in Poetry. Selected by Franny Choi and Tamiko Breyer. | 2022, New York

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Performances *

* The Dirty Gerund Poetry Show, Ralph’s Diner | Worcester, MA (Aug 2024)
* Boston Poetry Slam, Cantab Lounge | Cambridge, MA (July 2024)
* Asian American Resource Workshop Summer Celebration | Boston, MA
(Aug 2023)
* Kundiman (Northeast) Summer Reading | Somerville, MA (July 2023)
* Slam Free or Die | Manchester, NH (Jan 2023)
* Boston Poetry Marathon | Boston, MA (Aug 2022, Aug 2021)
* Port Veritas | Portland, ME (July 2021)
* Feminine Empowerment Slam Poetry Tournament | Cambridge, MA (Oct
2019)

Workshops + Panels *

*City of Boston x Boston Public Library, Central Library in Copley Square — Another World is Already Poem-ing (Upcoming June 21, 2025)
* Allied Media Conference — Centering AAPI Voices & Stories Around
Immigration (July 2, 2022)
* Asian American Resource Workshop — Poetry and Creative Writing Workshop
(Dec 2022)
* Community of Scholars Day — Lesley University (ART.FOR.CHANGE)
(2022)
* Guest Panelist, Worcester State University — Organize to Decolonize: How
Can We Decolonize Community Engagement (Sept 2022)

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Art *

Fisherman's Loom * (2024)

Found wood-branch, Yarn, Wool, 8" x 8" x 7"

An individual project exploring the Vietnamese history between fishing and weaving, drawing inspiration from stories of my maternal family growing up in a small fishing village in southern Vietnam, and my father's (and his brothers') love for fishing. Fishing as livelihood, fishing as a love language.

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Art *

altar * (2022/2024)

Recycled Tissue Box, Tin Cans, Candy Wrappers, Plastic Bags, Old T-shirt, Dried Flowers from Bouquet, Paper,
Hair Clip, Dad’s White Lighter, Masking Tape, Acrylic Paint, Branches, Yarn, Thread, Snow, 36" x 24" x 7"

An individual project exploring grief using recycled materials from my home that I lived with and gave new life
to, including objects that hold memory of my late-father, turned into an altar.

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rain * (2021)

Digital 1,620 x 2,160 px

An individual project exploring the queer love. Using open source images of a lesbian couple and a graph of rain fall to create a digital collage. An altar on rain.

altar: a photo essay on grief * (2021)

Photography (Digital Photography) 4" x 6"

An individual project exploring grief. The photos were taken of my family’s ancestral altar while my late-father was in hospice- a week or so before he passed away.

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*<Digital Diaries: plenty of fish in the sea > * (2021)

Digital (2100 x 2100 px)

An individual digital diary project exploring confession. A conversation with the fish. A digital altar.

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*<Digital Diaries: a boygirl’s altar of Chinatown> * (2023)

Mixed Media, Photography, Digital Collage (1,408 x 2,002 px)

An individual project exploring digital poetics, using photography and transmuting it
into a digital collage, a conversation, building a digital altar. Contains photography of moments in Chintatown, Boston, MA. The script and text serves as a conversation, as poetics with the altar, discussions of displacement and home. To be in conversation with the altar.

digital diaries * (2021 - ongoing)

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*<Digital Diaries: a boygirl’s confessions> * (2023)

Digital 1080 x 1080 px

An individual digital diary project exploring confession. A digital altar.

*<Digital Diaries: a boygirl’s altar (2023)> * (2023)

Mixed Media, Photography, Digital Collage (1,408 x 2,002 px)

An individual project exploring digital poetics, using photography transmuting it into a glitch-
digital collage, a conversation, building an altar from my grief. Contains photography of final moments with my father, my father’s garden, the koi fish at the restaurant by the hospital.

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*<the heart is an orange * (2022/2024)

Mixed Media, Photography, Digital Collage (16:9),(1,408 x 2,002 px)

An individual project exploring digital poetics, using photography and transmuting it into a glitch-digital collage, a conversation about the heart.(Later published in Vănguard Zine: Issue 6).

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* <Sext_> * (2022/2024)

Digital (1,408 x 2,002 px)

An individual project exploring digital poetics, using a text message, distorting it and turning it into a poem, a conversation about the heart. (Later published in Vănguard Zine: Issue 6).

*<soft_altar> * (2023)

Mixed Media, Photography, Digital 4" x 6"

An individual project exploring my roots. Photos capture a CVS bag containing Tigers Balm at the hospital whereI visited my father and of my mother’s window. Sketches are a conversation with the self. Everything becomes a collage, becoming an altar.

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*<apology disguised as 140 character tweets: hybrid poems> *(2022/2024)

Collection of Video Stills 16:9

An individual project of poetics in remembering my late-father. A collection of video stills from a video I filmed, produced, and edited for my poem “apology disguised as 140 character tweets.” This video translates the poem into an immersive experience, engaging with the process of mourning. It features various scenes: the last fireworks shared with my father, my childhood home, my family’s altar, and more. Elements of film, music, and poetry are used to translate grief.(Later published in Peach Magazine).

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