in order to create interest in poetry and theatre publications, book city (书城) will be holding monthly poetry readings and performances. the series will be called 诗歌人间 (poetry in the world). 　

the original idea for the series came from 刘静文　(liu jingwen), a culture journalist at shenzhen’s 晶报. when asked, liu explained that the inspiration for “poetry in the world”, was the 99th anniversary of new chinese poetry. as a journalist, he has written on new poetry and interviewed many poets, however, he feels that it would be a pity to limit the celebratation of new poetry to the newspaper.

at the same time that liu was thinking about ways of bringing poetry to a new audience, managers at book city were brainstorming about ways of making poetry more viable. they decided to turn the store into a cultural stage and called liu to help them organize the event.

liu jingwen invited the　poet lai’er (莱耳) to help organize the events because for the past 8 years, lai’er has edited poemlife 诗生活 one of the more successful online poetry magazines in the prc. liu explained that the internet has become one of the main venues for poetry in the mainland. moreover, one of the most exciting things about internet poetry has been the variety and conversations it has inspired. when he started planning, liu decided to bring the energy and influence of poetry to the readings.

liu jingwen then contacted fat bird because he sees a natural affinity between the theatre and poetry. he used greek tragedy to illustrate how in the past, theatre and poetry were the same. moreover, liu believes that from the point of view of the audience actors are more interesting than poets. “poetry readings tend to be very much the same,” he said, “but actors bring different meanings and understanding to words. this will encourage more interest in poetry.”

the first event is 回归 (return). return in this context has two meanings. the first, describes the fact that many poets have had to leave poetry in order to earn money. return will be an opportunity for them to re-enter the world of poetry.

the second meaning is a tacit comment on the role of poetry in the world. throughout the socialist era and early years of reform, poetry was directly implicated in politics. this was as true of the poetry of guo moruo （郭沫若） as that of bei dao（北岛） and huang beilin (黄贝岭). however, lai’er and other contemporary poets now see a trend for poetry to return to its proper place: the private worlds of individuals.

there is of course an irony here. by organizing public poetry readings, liu jingwen is advocating the importance of poetry to everyday life. perhaps, as many would have us believe, the differences between the politics of “poetry in the world” and earlier socialist poetry are both of degree and kind. but perhaps not. the human heart may be as moved by the explicitly political as it is by beauty. when yang qian was a child, he was sent to a factory to learn from workers. during poetry writing lessons, his master taught the children that true socialist poetry came from the heart. he then recited one of his own poems:

党是母亲我是孩，一头扑进母亲怀，咕咚咕咚喝娘奶，谁拉我也不起来

(very loosely translated and without all the rhymes)

the party is mother, i her child
my head goes straight to her breast
gurgle, gurgle, mother’s milk
no one can pull me away

“poetry in the world” will be held on the second saturday of every month at 8:00 p.m. “return” is scheduled for november 10, 2007. in decemeber, “poetry in the world” will commemorate the 800th anniversary of the birth of rumi.