Xi Murong: Poets and poetry never die

Sometimes I hate how poetry gets covered in the press.

At the annual Hong Kong Book Fair some readers admit they rarely read poems, though they like poetry.

College student Miss Chen shares why she thinks poetry is fading from contemporary culture.

“In our society, people, in most of the cases, live a fast-paced life, thus, there isn’t much space available for them to meditate. People who want to write poems might not be able to afford the time to organize their thoughts. People who want to read poem might not have the luxury to relax and enjoy a good poem.”

Another reader, 71-year-old Miss Wang, blames education for people’s diminishing interest in poetry.

“I think it’s about education. The current education focuses on making money, and has forgotten about literature. There’s no soil for poets to grow.”

But the question remains, do we still need poems? Many readers at the book fair agree that poetry, like other literature forms, is a comfort to people’s minds, and shouldn’t be abandoned.

“I think we need poems. They can appease us.”

None of this has anything to do with Xi Murong 席慕蓉, the ostensible subject of the People Daily life & culture feature. Also, she was born in 1943–was that really so long ago that it’s appropriate to headline an article about her “poets never die”?