Hunan Goose-feather Poet Tang Guoming In Flourish After Yu Xiuhua
Source:Xi’an EveningWriter:Zhang XuefengTime:2015-03-10Clicks：次
Is is not a full two-month period since the beginning of 2015, but poetry which was ignored by people has become a hot topic. Following Yu Xiuhua who became popular by being absorbed in writing poems silently, Hunan poet Tang Guoming and his goose-feather poems have recently received admiration from a large number of poem fans. An investigation conducted by Xi’an Evening journalist discovered there was some similarities between Tang Guoming and Yu Xiuhua, who both remain farmers now and their poetic talents got recognized by the magazine of The Poems and made known to the poetic world through media’ s quick transmission.
A man crazy about the Dream of the Red Chamber creating goose-feather poems
Member of Hunan Writers’ Association Tang Guoming became well-known overnight duo to his continuation of the Dream of the Red Chamber. After his graduation from the Chinese Language Department of Hunan Normal University in 2002, Tang settled in a civilian house of 8 m2 at the foot of the Yuanlu Mountain and started his life of reading and writing. Without a job, he made a living by contribution and meanwhile followed his literary dream for over ten years.
‘In the summer when I was 14 years old, I saw for the first time the Dream of the Red Chamber of Cheng-gao’ s edition in a classmate’ s house.’ recalled Tang to the reporter on Xi’an Evening. He said that after he had read intensively the novel of various editions ever since he arrived at the conclusion that the original one should have 100 chapters. In 2014, his New Continuation of the Dream of the Red Chamber appeared fully in the literary magazine Fuyu (meaning ‘floating jade’ in Chinese), which was followed by the reports of him and his stories by more than 50 media. Consequently, he won the fame of Crazy Man about the Dream of the Red Chamber.
In Poems published in February, 2015 there appeared two poems by TangGuoming: Snow-white Goose Feathers and Snow-white Walls and Goose Feather Bed. It was the second time that his poems had appeared in the state-level poem magazine, before which he had five of his group poems On the Endless Road published in the first half-month edition of The Poems. Because of the lines ‘If I am tired out lying,do not carve my name on the snow-white wall, but bury it with snow-white goose feathers, and bury it with snow-white goose feathers.’ the reporter noticed, net friends think that his poems are white, clean and beautiful like goose feathers and sound like music. They say jokingly that he has created goose-feather type of poems. Lately the news that the crazy man of the Dream of the Red Chamber has been reprinted repeatedly and hotly on media by literary lovers.
‘I entered the literary world by continuing the Dream of the Red Chamber but started my literary journey by writing poems.’ said Tang, adding that he began writing poems crazily when he was a Senior Two grader. Interestingly, after being regarded as a goose feather poet, he even wrote a line in a poem as follows: ‘My poems are not hair on my body, but mine are flying feathers of a swan.’ It is his declaration of being a goose-feather poet.
The phenomenon of ‘grass-root poets’ drawing attention of China Writers’ Association
Yu Xiuhua, who became a heat thanks to the promotion by The Poems having kept writing poems in the countryside of Hubei Province, has published two collections of poems by the beginning of 2015. Not a month later, a goose-feather poet was promoted by the media. As to this, famous poetry reviewer of Shanxi and chief editor of the Poetry Net He Chaofeng told the reporter of Xi’an Evening, ‘Either Yu Xiuhua or Tang Guoming is one rare of ten thousand poets, who root themselves in ordinary life picking up poetic materials and become hot personages magnified by the media after displaying their talents on the platform of state-level The Poems. The phenomenon has already transcended poetry itself. It is worth researching and discussing.’
And the reporter has learned that China Writers’ Association is paying attention to the phenomenon that ‘grass-root poets’ are springing up. A research workshop held jointly by the Creation Research Department of China Writers’ Association, the Poems Magazine and Literature & Art Newspaper took place. The workshop was about the characteristics of ‘grass-root poems’, the relations between poetry and reality, the critic standards of poetry and the influence of media on poetic ecology.
Poet Li Zhuang thinks that people read micro-messages and micro-blogs to seek the efficiency of reading. Yu Xiuhua’ s becoming popular was because of her comparatively high quality poems, the media’ s propaganda of her special state of health and the poetic line ‘Having traveled across half China, go to sleep.’
Vice-president of China Writers’ Association Li Jingze said, ‘In the hot trend of ‘grass-root poems’, many works are made known to readers by way of the Internet, which has brought new changes to literary ecology. Poets and critics should face and think about it so as to put forward new ideas for the literature of this era.’
Snow-white Goose Feathers And Snow-white Walls
By Tang Guoming
You are my grain of tonight,
And you are my moon-white bowl of tonight.
I cannot leave you tonight,
Nor can I leave my village.
I carry firewood and draw water in the village,
I feed horses and tend sheep in the village,
I farm the land in the village,
And I shed sweat like rain for my village.
I want to produce a group of sons of the sun,
I want to produce a group of daughters of the moon,
I want to build a white wall of books,
I want to be an honest farmer in the village,
And I want to dress up my village,
Like my bride of the moon.
If I am tired out lying,
Do not carve my name on the snow-white wall,
But bury it with snow-white goose feathers,
Bury it with snow-white goose feathers,
And bury it with snow-white goose feathers.
(Taken from the Poems of February edition, 2015)
(Translated by Yi Daoqun)