Former Flame Fridays - Annie Liones Nguyen

3/28/25

Today is Davi’s Birthday!!! If you are in Los Angeles at AWP and are reading this, head to Booth 912!

You were featured in volume 2, what has happened since?

Hi everyone, my name is Annie Liones Nguyen. My poem Pain, A Competition, was featured in volume 2. Since then, I've been featured in a few other magazines and journals. Currently, I am in Los Angeles pursuing an MFA in filmmaking. I still write poetry on my own time, but I'm more actively working on other mediums of written work, like screenwriting and long stories.

Pain, A Competition

if pain is a competition
you would always win
does it give you a sense of achievement
to be the winner of this race
does it give you a sense of superiority
to be the triumph of all suffering
does it makes you feel good
to be the one with more burns
when we walked into the flames
not realising that both are on fire

if pain is a shared burden
with no medals to give
can we alleviate each other’s pain
rest on each other’s shoulders
celebrate each other’s wins
can we build each other’s dreams
lift each other up
push each other forward
or do we continue the chase towards oblivion
in a competition with only losers

What/who inspired Pain, A Competition? How does it fit into your style/body of work?

I often write about humanism, grief, and empowerment in my work. Pain, A Competition was inspired by my personal experiences as a young woman, living in a world where other women's struggles get pitted against yours as a measurement for who deserves to have the final cry for suffering. Grandmothers, mothers, aunts, other young women, whoever it may be. Now, don't get me wrong, I love them, but the sheer fact that in every timeline and world, women have been abused and suffering for centuries, by repressing social norms created by the patriarchy, then passed down by other women, and at the end of the day we still point fingers at each other when the patriarchal society's power triumphs over all of us. What does comparing pain achieve besides just harming and invalidating each other? It's not about shaming but educating. I was lucky enough to meet many amazing women who support me unconditionally and women who realize how this is hurting us and start to change their beliefs.

The biggest gift I could ever ask for is seeing the many women around me learn to love each other and themselves enough to change.

Why Troublemaker Firestarter? What compels you to submit your work? Why be a writer at the end of the world?

I chose to submit to Troublemaker Firestarter because it is a welcoming platform for people from all walks of life to share their work. I am not a trained writer, I don't have a degree in writing, I just woke up one day and decided to write about my life, and never in my wildest dreams would I expect for my work to be printed in a page of a book. Thank you for giving my work a home and giving me a chance to share a piece of me with the world. Writing is a part of me. In the pursuit of filmmaking, I feel like I'm just a writer with extra steps. Seeing the million dollars worth of equipment and production does overwhelm me sometimes, but when you reverse-engineer the whole process, it makes more sense. First you have an idea, and secondly, the script, which is written by a writer. With an idea but no script, there will be no story, and no film. A piece of writing can be a work of art in itself, like poems, prose, or stories, and they can make you feel a certain way. Writing poetry is one of my favourite mediums to channel my emotions into words. It is cathartic, and it helps me make sense of all the confusing yet colourful array of emotions that one may experience. Reading another person's poetry is like speaking to them, even if they are no longer around. You can either understand how they feel or can't help but to feel the same.

Are you a troublemaker, a firestarter, a heartbreaker, a lucky duck, a devil, a terror, or sad and horny?

I am definitely a troublemaker. Ever since I was a kid, I was not the obedient little girl my family wanted me to be. I was nicknamed "the troublemaker" for questioning norms and not following them to a tee. In Vietnamese, there is a word called "cãi", which means "talking back", and that word was often used to describe my genuine curiosity on how things are. I ask "why" a lot, I get shot down a lot, and I try to search for the answers a lot more. As I entered adulthood, I realised that only I can answer my own questions and quench my thirst for knowledge by stepping out there and exploring the world. Honestly, I wish there'd be more troublemakers in the world. We need you!

Where can people find you?

I am on Instagram as @annie.lionesng, or you can visit my website at www.annielionesnguyen.com

What would you want the lovely readers of Substack to do?

If you have never written a poem, try it! Writing a poem is one of the most liberating feelings I have ever experienced.