This article is from: Guangming.com
[News Essay]
Author: Zhang Yan
“I was The aroma is suffocated, trapped in this enthusiasm” “transparent eyes, on the street, looking for his sweetheart”… 47-year-old Zhao, a 47-year-old man on Chunjiang Road, Zhuji, Shaoxing, Zhejiang, writes poetry while selling fruit. Romantic poems add warm and lively emotions to their fruits. While making a living, Lao Zhao fulfilled his poetry dream by the way.
Having worked as a small laborer, running a street stall, and running a fruit shop, the “wild poet” Lao Zhao became popular, but not necessarily because of his poetry, but because of his living conditions and wisdom.
Let’s talk about the status first. There is a passage in the news report about Lao Zhao: “In this way, in 6 years, Lao Zhao wrote more than 300 poems and more than 300 essays. And he himself prefers to call this tentative writing: ‘ Nonsense.’ He regards poetry as a friend, and whenever he is free, he chats and talks with this friend. At such moments, he can always forget the trivialities and troubles of life and find peace of mind.” Life is about peace of mind. The so-called mind-cultivation is actually the adjustment of the state of mind. The fruit shop is diligent, which means that those who open a fruit shop must also be diligent with their eyes and hands. But if the heart is stable and sustenance, only the body is tired, but the soul is full. Lao Zhao’s days are used for living, and the nights are reserved for poetry. Do not be alarmed by pampering and humiliation, watch the flowers bloom in front of the court; go and stay unintentionally, look at the clouds in the sky. How can such a state of life not be enviable?
Let’s talk about wisdom. Poetry and far-flung life make modern hearts cherish. But the practice of life emphasizes substance rather than form. The distance is always just a form. Poetry and the vision and mood to discover poetry are the core; living in other places, turning the near life into a poetic existence is wisdom. What makes life enjoyable is not necessarily wealth and status, but a match between life circumstances and self-positioning. The little people in the mortal world can live a little detached, enough to make people applaud.
Of course, we can also look at poetry. Objectively speaking, this “wild poet” has poetic talents, but not many. Judging from the few poems quoted in the news, there are still rules in the arrangement and description, but the poetic flavor is not necessarily strong, and there is a lack of unique discovery and experience of the world, which is often the key to judging the quality of a poem. This sensitivity and observation of literature and life, which is beyond ordinary people, allows him to enjoy the ordinary life in the ordinary sense, and not to live too intensely like a real poet-not to interact with the outside world. Conflict is to fall into the conflict of one’s own inner world.
But the mentality of seeing poetry everywhere is the most worthy of recognition in Lao Zhao’s “literary phenomenon”. “A tree-lined road leads to urban and rural areas. You are a solid looking, you are a vocal yearning…” This poem, titled “Green Road”, took Lao Zhao 20 minutes to rush by the roadside. “The other day I went to collect watermelons, and I drove past a tree-lined road. The melon shed and rice fields, the city and the countryside, were at both ends of the road. I stopped quickly and tore a piece of paper to write.” Love, love for literature. And both love and literature have power, and this power is as Flaubert said: “Like the fire in the furnace, we borrow fire from others, ignite ourselves, and then pass it on to others, so that everyone can enjoy it. Common.”
Every once in a while, a “wild poet” appears in the public eye. The last time was Wang Erdong, the “express poet”, Li Xiaogang, the “construction poet”, and Zheng Xiaoqiong, the “worker poet”… After the hustle and bustle, they will return to silence and write poetry and live as usual. The number of these “wild poets” is not large, but the significance of their ability to attract public attention may lie in letting busy and mediocre people see different ways of living and how to find a little sweetness in life.
“Guangming Daily” (16th edition on July 25, 2022)