In April 2022, the headline poet of "West" was Chen Xianfa. Under the title of "Ancient Envelopes", "West" published 5 poems by Chen Xianfa. 2022 is undoubtedly Chen Xianfa's "lucky year" or "outbreak year". Just four months after 2022, Chen Xianfa has already become a headline poet four times, on average once a month.
The image comes from China Poetry Network
In January 2022, Chen Xianfa was the headline poet of "Flower City" and the headline poet of "Selected Poems". In March 2022, Chen Xianfa was the headline poet of Beijing Literature. What is so good about Chen Xianfa's poems? Why have you repeatedly become the headline poet of major publications? Since "The West" is titled after this "ancient envelope" and the poem "The Ancient Envelope" is ranked first, let's take a look at this poem.
The image comes from China Poetry Network
This poem, needless to say, is really like a poem. Why? Because of the branch, but also "not good to talk", people can not understand. The first sentence is very "poetic", "the starlight is jagged in the dry ash", what is this "dry ash"? Why is starlight jagged?
The image comes from China Poetry Network
The whole poem reads "poetically", but when you think about it carefully, you don't know what it means. The title is "The Ancient Envelope", is it the poet who corresponds with his predecessors? Or is it that these scenes written in the poem have always existed, very old?
For some reason, today's poets write poems that do not divide according to common sense. For example, in this poem, "I write late at night on waste paper and/burn away later", shouldn't this be "I write late at night on waste paper/burn away immediately"? Similarly, "The ancient impulse that I write a few words late at night always stems from/I don't know who to send it to" shouldn't it be "I write a few sentences late at night/Always stems from the ancient impulse of not knowing who to send it to"?
The image comes from China Poetry Network
Is this division, which is the quality of modern poetry? Leaving a sentence, leaving a little in the first line, and then a little after the line, is it the embodiment of "poetry"? A line is a complete sentence, not a poem? That is to say, reading modern poetry, giving people a feeling of stuttering, or the feeling of being out of breath, is good poetry?
Therefore, it is estimated that few people can know in addition to the poet himself and the editors of major publications. Perhaps, as the "famous poet" Isha said, people outside the poetry world are "fools" and cannot read poetry.
The image comes from China Poetry Network
Then, the question arises, since the poetry altar only serves a small number of insiders, is there still a need for such an "altar"? They entertain themselves in the altar and boast about themselves, but they have nothing to do with outsiders. Even if they are very loud, what is the point of this?
Speaking of the poetry world, I have to say that on March 9, 2022, the Chinese Writers Association announced the names of the members of the 10th Poetry Committee, which is after all an organization that determines the development direction of the poetry world in the next 5 years. In this list, there are "heavyweights" in the poetry world, including "famous poets", "famous editors", and "famous critics".
In this session of the committee, Chen Xianfa's name is prominently listed, and he is still one of the three deputy directors. In the last list, there was no name of Chen Xianfa, not even a member of the committee. This undoubtedly proves once again that 2022 is Chen Xianfa's "lucky year". Chen Xianfa suddenly broke out in 2022, is it related to this list? Estimated no. After all, the list was only released in March, and Chen Xianfa at this time was already the headline poet of the three major publications.
Therefore, we must believe that Chen Xianfa has "invariably" become the headline poet of major publications, and there is no other reason, that is, his poems are well written. And these good poems of his, which we cannot read, are our problems, and our "poetic aesthetics are a hundred years behind the West" (Zhao Lihua), which has nothing to do with poets and publications.
In 2022, only a quarter has passed, and there are still eight months to go, how many times can Chen Xianfa become a headline poet? We'll see. Today, when poetry does not arouse much interest, this is a noteworthy result.