In the audience.
Wang Xiaomei was fiddling with her phone, “Can you access the internet?”
Zhang Ye didn’t know if she was asking him, but replied anyway, “Ah, there is no signal.”
“How will you post without the internet?” Wang Xiaomei glanced at him.
Zhang Ye blinked, “How did you know I would participate in the poetry contest?”
Wang Xiaomei replied matter-of-factly, “With your temper, you wouldn’t swallow your pride just like that. See you, or not, there will you stay, no sorrow, nor joy? I didn’t take that seriously.”
Zhang Ye was embarrassed. It was true; he was not that forgiving.
“Do you need me to ask around for whose phone has a signal? And borrow it for you?” Wang Xiaomei took the initiative.
Zhang Ye replied, “There’s no need for that. If I want to post, I will go outside to post. But I have yet to think of a poem. Teacher Xiaomei, what’s with you?”
“Why I am so enthusiastic?” Wang Xiaomei answered, “Because you are the representative of our Literature Channel. You already are our channel’s branded host. If they doubt you, it means they are denying our Literature Channel’s cultural standard. Besides, I don’t think that your poems are worse than theirs. I cannot feel no sorrow, nor joy. I am angry right now.”
…
Onstage.
The poetry event has progressed to the poetry recital and appreciation round.
After reading a few netizens’ poems, Zhang Huo spoke, “These few poems are pretty well-written. It looks like our netizens are also capable people. Haha. But Sun Mengjie and I are really just here to watch. We are not professionals, so would still hope that the teachers from the Writers’ Association would enlighten us a bit.”
The participants from the Writers’ Association passed around the responsibility for a while.
Finally, Meng Dongguo stood up, as expected. He was the one with the most influence within the group, “After listening to a few of the poems, I find them still to be okay.”
The female host said, “Still okay? I can understand President Meng’s thought on this; so that means they still have their problems?”
Meng Dongguo laughed “They are only amateurs, so to be able to write like this is not bad.”
“Can you explain to us the differences between their poems and a professional’s? We are still unclear; perhaps everyone here is unclear. The poems sounded pretty good.” Zhang Huo pretended to be a layman.
Meng Dongguo touched his beard and spoke honestly, “Those who don’t understand poetry may not be able to tell the difference. On the surface, it’s quite good. The writing and phrases are elegant. But there are too many ways to read into it. Like the work “Wind Breaking Through Clouds” by that netizen… A professional would know immediately that there are issues with it. The modern-style poetry he wrote? It’s actually not. Modern-style poetry must adhere to a certain tonal pattern, rhyme scheme and parallelism. With the five character poems as an example, it must start with a level tone. The second part requires a deflected tone. Then the third part requires it to go back to the level tone. On the contrary, if the first part uses a deflected tone, then the second part requires a level tone, then in the third part, it has to be a deflected tone. He was not right with that.”
Zhang Huo was enlightened, “I see.”
Meng Dongguo said, “Hence, if they are amateurs or beginners, they are recommended to write modern poems. The requirements are simpler. Well, one of the modern poems that the hosts recited also had a small problem. The mood seemed a bit off, and the entire poem did not have a core literary belief. In our jargon, we would say that it’s lacking ‘spirit’. The words used are pretty, but literature eventually needs to abide by literature. It needs to move the hearts of the people. If a poem that is lacking in essence, energy and spirit, it cannot move the hearts of people, then it is empty at its core. It is just showy.”
“We’re gaining knowledge here.” Zhang Huo said.
Meng Dongguo seemed like he was hooked onto saying more. It was unsure if he did it consciously, but he suddenly mentioned, “Like recently on the internet, there have been several poems with a lot of views. Actually, in my opinion, there are some flaws in their conception. Of course, this could be a matter of ‘beauty is in the eyes of the beholder’, so there’s still room for discussion.”
Sun Mengjie added, “Vice President Meng, are you talking about ‘Flying Bird and Fish’? Or ‘The Song of the Stormy Petrel’?”
Meng Dongguo smiled, “I’ve mentioned it on Weibo. Those who have seen it will know. I have my reservations about these two poems.”