Dialogue with the famous | Ma Shuqin: Infiltrating the child's heart with the water of the spring stream of poetry

Ma Shuqin is a member of the Chinese Writers Association, a representative of the 7th, 8th and 9th National Congresses of the Chinese Writers Association, a representative of the 11th National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, a director of the 3rd Chinese Poetry Society, a director of the Beijing Writers Association, and the chairman of the Beijing Mentougou District Writers Association. He is the author of the poetry collection "Song of Jingxi", "Mountain Moon", "Immortal Landscape", "Cooking Smoke And Shake", "Selected Poems of Ma Shuqin", "Mother is a River" and the prose collection "Shuqin Prose".

Author: Director of Beijing Writers Association Ma Shuqin, Chairman of Beijing Mentougou District Writers Association

There is a natural poetry in the nature of children, and a pure child's heart is closest to poetry. Children's hearts and poetry have a natural connection, even adults, only always maintain a child's heart, in order to maintain the passion and sensitivity of poetry for a long time. "Poetry is the diamond of language", as long as the elements of poetry are integrated into life, the chain and nodes of life will shine like diamonds.

From 2006, when I was hired as the honorary president of the "Valley Wind Poetry Society" of the Dayu Middle School Branch in Mentougou District, Beijing, to recent years, I have been hired by many schools to hold poetry-related positions, and I have given poetry lessons to poetry clubs in 4-5 schools every week. For 15 years, with children, accompanied by children's hearts to wander the sky of poetry, swim in the ocean of poetry, control the dreams of poetry, and fly with children's hearts.

The emotions of poetry are more prominent, and the combination of daily life and poetry education is more close

Beijing Mentougou District Dayu Middle School Branch was the first to set up a student poetry club, founded a student poetry journal, and carried out various poetry activities. In 2006, I was fortunate to be hired by the school as the honorary president of the "Valley Wind Poetry Society", and was invited to participate in various poetry activities of the school, commenting on works, creative exchanges, and reading and recitation.

I am well aware of the weakness and shallowness of personal strength, so I invited more than a dozen poetry theorists, scholars and poets such as Wu Sijing, Ren Hongyuan, Yang Zhixue, and Shucai to serve as poetry art consultants for the school, forming a strong poetry education advisory group. These experts often go to the school to participate in activities and give lectures, which has brought the school's poetry quality education to a new level. Therefore, the branch of Dayu Middle School was approved by the Beijing Writers Association to be named beijing poetry characteristic school.

On March 29, 2010, the unveiling ceremony of the Beijing Poetry Characteristic School and the Qingming Poetry Festival were held on the wide playground of the school. Experts and consultants from the poetry industry attended the ceremony, and leaders of the Beijing Writers Association and the district party committee and district government inaugurated the poetry characteristic school.

Over the past 10 years, the sentiment of school poetry has become more prominent, the combination of daily life and poetry education has become more close, and the results have become more significant. In 2020, the principal asked me to help design and implement the poetry curriculum. At the same time, the school's affiliated primary school was just established, and the "Little Valley Poetry Society" came into being, and I was hired as the poetry director of the "Little Valley Poetry Society" to teach the poetry club every week, so that this poetry characteristic school ran through poetry education from primary school to junior high school.

With the continuous spread of poetry, many primary schools have set up student poetry clubs, and the tutoring work has become busier. Our district writers association organized a literature into the campus activities, up to 7 members of Beijing municipal level or above into the campus to give literature classes. Secretary General Li Yingjie and I have weekly poetry school classes almost non-stop. Not just a lecture, but a full service. In addition to carefully preparing lessons, sorting out students' poems after class, reading and grading, preparing for the analysis of works in the next class, so that students can improve in the combination of theory and practice, and communicate with students in WeChat groups. For good works, it is recommended to publish on the basis of helping to guide the revision and improvement. Then, together with the school leaders, the outstanding students were commended and rewarded at the opening ceremony, the flag-raising ceremony and the poetry creation commendation meeting.

Infiltrate the soul with the water of the spring stream of poetry, and connect the world of truth, goodness and beauty with the symbols and codes of poetry

For junior high schools and elementary schools, we have set up separate courses. Elementary school started in grades three to six and then expanded to second grade, and some useful attempts were made for the first grade. The lower grade poetry lessons are full of pictures and texts, starting from the image picture of the poetry language, starting from the discovery and expression that is different from others, excavating the innocent nature of children, from low to high, guiding the image of the language with accuracy, true feelings, vividness, imagination, combination of virtual and real, verb use, metaphor, childlike fun, etc.

Every small concept is absorbed and dissolved in the recitation and explanation of the poem; each classic work is interpreted, explained, and deepened in combination with the simple and simple truth. In the context of children, enter the heart, infiltrate the heart with the water of the spring stream of poetry, and connect the world of truth, goodness and beauty with the symbols and codes of poetry. Let the children remember that writing poetry is creation, innovation, uniqueness, and freshness and vividness that are different from others. From practicing sentences to composing poems, little bees gradually learn to use the eyes of poets to discover, pick, refine and brew. At the same time, we often get inspiration and inspiration from children's creative poems and poems.

Longquan Elementary School was the first to establish the Small Writers Association and the first to offer poetry and other literature courses. Later, Dayu No. 2 Primary School, Dongxinfang Primary School, Jingshi Experimental Primary School, Dayu Middle School Branch Affiliated Primary School, Beijing Eighth Middle School Jingxi Affiliated Primary School, etc. successively established student poetry clubs, and arranged poetry classes at least once a week.

The "Jingjing Literary Society" of Jingshi Experimental Primary School was established in 2018, on that day, standing on the sunny playground, the Young Pioneers tied a bright red scarf to me, and the secretary of the party branch of the school issued me a letter of appointment as a "Consultant of the Jingjing Literary Society", and unveiled the plaque for the literary society together. At this time, I saw a beautiful scenery, that is, all the members of the literary society were wearing red vests, and the red vests were printed with five bright characters of "Jingjing Literary Society". Warm seeds sprouted in my heart, and tears flickered in my eyes. This is clearly a literary banner. I was fascinated by the scenery and moved by the reverence and awe of literature in this school.

After the establishment of the "Jingjing Literary Society", literary activities have never stopped, the school director has been following the class management, and the party branch secretary and principal have often patronized. In 2020, I received another call from the school leaders inviting me to give a lecture, and without hesitation, I immediately started a weekly poetry class.

The more than 30 students in the poetry class are selected from grades 2-6. The slogan we put forward is to learn not only to be a little poet, but also to be a poetry critic. Therefore, whenever the students' works are evaluated, the author first introduces the creative ideas, then everyone comments, and finally I summarize. The students were not only highly motivated, but also frank and outspoken. Some said: "The sentence of this poem is more graphic, but it is not accurate enough and needs to be revised." Some said: "The language of poetry should be short and concise, and the sentences of this poem are too long, and some can be dispensed with." Others said: "This poem lacks interest and is not vivid enough." In this way, the students completely integrated poetry theory into their writing, and almost everyone talked about the main points with their heads in the tao, and played a role.

In order to let the students know and understand nature and feel the seasons, the school leaders and I led the students to the park to "look for spring", observe the details, and refine the poetry. The students used poetry to write nature, write about life, write ideals, and express the childlike heart of truth, goodness and beauty. Write about the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic, praise the party and the motherland, and praise nature. Dayu Second Primary School has successively established the "Little Apple Literary Society" and the "Second Small Poetry Society", and the students' works have also won awards in the National Children's Poetry Competition. The vice principal of the primary school attached to the branch of Dayu Middle School personally manages the "Little Valley Poetry Society" and tries every means to mobilize the enthusiasm of students. On October 25, 2021, the school organized a poetry recital of "Children's Hearts to the Party, Valley Songs", with the "Little Valley Poetry Society" as the core, and all classes of the school competed to recite on stage.

Dong Xin Fang Primary School is an old and young school. There is a garden here, a garden that is more fragrant and colorful than the real garden. My poet friend, Li Yingjie, vice chairman and secretary general of the District Writers Association, has been doing literary tutoring in this school for many years, assisting the school to raise stubble students into groups of small white pigeons, carrying the dream of literature to fly. Beijing No. 8 Middle School Jingxi Affiliated Primary School is a new type of school, the initial stage of poetry lectures and exchanges among teachers, followed by the establishment of the student composition of the "Boya Poetry Club", the principal and director personally arranged, sent special personnel to manage, the students are very enthusiastic, but also very effective.

Nature in the eyes and hearts of children is a beautiful fairy tale, and all life has pure and vivid spirituality

Every time I sort out and read my child's poems, I will be dazzled, and I will gush out infinite surprises and emotions. Children are all angels of nature, and the nature in their eyes and hearts is a beautiful fairy tale, and all life has pure and vivid spirituality. Here, there are beautiful feelings given by nature, and there are also rhythms and encounters between nature and life.

"The flower buds of the peach tree / Are hanging on the tree / A string of small light bulbs / Illuminate the whole spring" - "The flower buds of the peach" (Wang Xinlei, class 4 of the Dayu Second Small Poetry Society)

"Green Grass / Blooming a Few Golden Spring Flowers / Putting a Beautiful Hairpin on Spring" - "Spring" (Jingjing Experimental Elementary School "Jingjing Literature Society" student)

"Spring / Rain Falls in the River / The River Frowns" - "Spring Raindrops" (Dongxinfang Elementary School "Red Scarf Literary Club" student)

"Nature folded a paper airplane / Throw it lightly / Everything in the world / All woke up..." - "Spring" (Jingshi Experimental Elementary School "Jingjing Literature Society" Jin Yi)

These seemingly simple images are all through careful observation, integrated into the emotion, unfolding imaginary verses, and trying to be as unique as possible.

There are also some small poems that are quite characteristic in terms of accuracy and vividness.

"Autumn / Is a drunken sorghum / The wind blows / Walking and shaking" - "Autumn" (Dayu 2 Small 4 1 Tan Xinyan)

"Peach Blossom Sister is afraid of heat / Wind Sister fanned her with the wind / Her little face is still red / Peach Blossom Sister is afraid of black / Star Doll lit a lamp for her / She just sat peacefully on the branch" - "Peach Blossom" (Dayu Middle School Affiliated Elementary School "Little Valley Poetry Society" Lewis)

"Ice and snow are the most honored guests / only the two of them are present / The Winter Olympics project can start." ——" Guests of the Winter Olympics (Jingjing Literature Society 32 Ban Jia Yuhan)

"A drop of rain falls on a leaf / and a leaf high-fives / a drop of rain slips on a cobweb / swings on a web." (Zhang Hanyan, "Little Valley Poetry Society" of the affiliated primary school of Dayu Middle School Branch)

"A seed / Squirming in the dirt / taking off the cotton jacket / Putting on a turquoise hanfu / Leading a group of young bud girls / Dancing spring out of the ground." ——" Spring ( Liu Chenyang, Beijing Eighth Middle School Jingxi Affiliated Small Boya Poetry Society)

Some children's poems are not only wonderful, but also childlike, and well written and playful.

For example: "Tengu is hungry / Swallowed the moon in one bite / The moon is hard to eat / Spit it out again." ——" Tengu Eats the Moon (Jingjing Literature Society Yuan Hengyi)

"I didn't like to bathe since I was a child / I grew taller when I saw the grass bathing / I learned to bathe with the grass / So / I grew taller." ——" "Learning to Bathe with Xiaocao" (Jingjing Literature Society Class 33 Yang Yufei)

"Li Bai and I are both boys in the first and fourth classes / He is in the textbook / I sit at the desk / Li Bai teaches me to learn to write poetry / I often play with me / So / I write myself as 'Tang' Li Dian." —— "Me and Li Bai" (Dayu Second Small Poetry Society, Li Dian)

Imagination is the wing of poetry, and some small poems are unique in the play of imagination, highlighting children's creativity.

"I want caterpillars to grow wings / to be able to fly in the sky / I want snails to unload their small rooms / to be able to run on the ground easily / I want tigers to grow giraffes necks / to scratch the itch behind them / I want to become a dandelion / Floating in the air / I can see the far side of my dreams." 」 ——" "I Think" (Liu Lu, grade 5 of Longquan Primary School)

Although such a dream cannot be realized, it conforms to the logic of poetic imagination and the aesthetics of poetry, full of childlike fun and wonderful.

"The blackboard newspaper at the back of the classroom / Is our class's own reserve / We planted a few short articles on it / Planted a few poems / Planted a few famous sayings / There is a small area left / It is a small garden / The blackboard newspaper of our class / It is a fertile land / The spring of our class grows inside." —— "Blackboard Newspaper" (Liu Jingyan, Dayu Second Small Poetry Society)

"You are the tears of the goddess last night / Or the epitome of the moon / You are so heavy / So sinking / Lowering the tip of the grass / I just wanted to talk to you / The grass is angry / Lift you up to the sun." ——("Dew in the Morning", a junior high school student at Dayu Middle School)

The child's imagination turns the objective depiction into a fusion of objectivity and subjectivity, and turns simple imagery into a poetic mood.

Every child has his own hometown, and the nostalgic grass in the land of the child's soul from budding to thriving, until it grows into nostalgia. In the class of Longquan Elementary School, I heard Song Wei of class 61 reading his "Hometown", "Every time I think of my hometown / My heart is always sad / Every time I think of my hometown / My heart is always sad / If there is a ticket / It must be the direction of home!" "I was deeply moved, when asked about the reason for the poem, I learned that he followed his parents from Inner Mongolia to Beijing to work, the elderly grandparents are still in their hometown, and the hometown is the eternal direction in his heart." The child's innocent poetry not only infected me, but also promoted my poetry creation.

With the children of these poetry clubs, my heart is younger, flying with a child's heart, and life is more poetic.

Editor-in-Charge: Hengwen only

(Author: Ma Shuqin, Director of Beijing Writers Association, Chairman of Beijing Mentougou District Writers Association)

Source: China Youth Daily client