In the first half of March 2022, poetry magazine launched the "Peking University Women Poets Album", I thought that the march headline poet of "Poetry Journal" must be a female author, but I did not expect that it was a male author Wan Jianping. The Poetry Journal published his group poems under the title of "Riding a Roc Bird to See Beautiful China".
The image comes from China Poetry Network
First of all, the "bird look" in this title seems a little inappropriate, isn't it a "bird's eye view"? I wonder if the editor of the "China Poetry Network" did not pay attention and made a mistake? But a search of the March 2022 catalog of poetry magazines is indeed "bird watching". "Bird's eye view" means looking down, what does "bird look" mean? Birds watching? It's just that the bird is watching, but the person riding on the Roc is not looking?
This poem is a tribute to our beautiful rivers and mountains, showing the important achievements we have made, and from the perspective of the theme, it is still good. The author uses "Dapeng" to show our beautiful China, and the intention is also OK. However, after reading it, it gives the impression that there is not much poetry, or not like poetry.
This poem reads a lot like prose. Or like a novel, after all, some imagination, Dapeng is anthropomorphized. If it is not divided, it really does not feel like poetry. Perhaps, this is the "narrative poetry" that is now respected by the poetry world?
There are many metaphors in this poem, and many traditional verses are quoted. But the quotations from these verses do not add much poetry to the poem. Although the theme of this poem is clear, if the theme poem is written like this, it is not as pleasant as Wang Guozhen's "slogan poem".
Wang Guozhen (Image from the Internet)
Although Wang Guozhen's "slogan poem" seems to be shouting slogans, the positive significance is still very obvious. And this "headline poem", the positive meaning is obviously a little worse, and it is not catchy to read. The headline poem of this "Poetry Journal" should represent the highest level of this kind of poetry now, after all, the "Poetry Journal" is "the only central poetry journal", and its headline poems should be the best.
From this poem, it is clear that modern poetry is pale and powerless in expressing the themes of the times. After reading it, I can't give people the strength to excite and uplift, but I just feel that I am telling a story, and the story is still stumbling, and I deliberately dropped the "load" of the book bag. Such a "dress" is actually a bit disgusting to people.
Wan Jianping (Image from the Internet)
How to write a theme poem? This is indeed a question worth studying. A little attention becomes a slogan, like Wang Guozhen, or it becomes a "dress", like this poem, or it becomes a flow account, like Wang Dandan's "Hualuping Handbook". This actually reflects the shortcomings of modern poetry.
This "freedom" of modern poetry, on the surface, seems to be free, but in fact it is a tight curse that cannot be taken off. No matter how modern poetry flashes and moves, and after trying various "bodies", it cannot reach the realm of "poetry".
The image comes from the Internet
Wan Jianping's poem, I believe he has done his best. The Poetry Journal made the headlines for this poem, and it was also a general among the shorts. This is actually the current situation of the poetry world, "Poetry Journal" wants to launch theme poems, but it is really difficult to find excellent works. How did this tight curse break?