Chapter 52: Who Dares Say ‘Teacher Zhang Can’t Write Poems’?
After he posted on Weibo, the surging voices that came to curse at Zhang Ye seemed to stop!
See me or not. There will I stay, no sorrow, nor joy. What a free and easy poem! What a big-hearted attitude! Many people heaved in a mouthful of air upon seeing this! With the entire poem appearing, it gave a feeling that it was detached from all material things! It made the reader of the poem full of positive energy!
What was a good poem?
This may be what a good poem was!
Zhang Ye’s choice of this poem to hit back was undoubtedly very powerful!
With this, the other side weakened, whereas Zhang Ye’s neither clinging, nor abandoning fans felt their spirits enriched. They all began to shout!
SpringWindBlows: “Haha! Teacher Zhang Ye has fought back! Everyone, quickly have a look!”
WillowBowl: “Another new piece of work! Wow! This poem has a lot of feelings!”
Macho557: “None of Teacher Zhang Ye’s works can be faulted! Too awesome!”
There was a person who published a long evaluation, named LifeIsABallOfFire, “I never read modern poems. I have never liked things related to art, ever since I was young. However, Teacher Zhang Ye has made me completely fall in love with literature and art, like poems. I do not know if those people cursing at Teacher Zhang Ye behind their keyboards or those so-called professional authors have any eyes! All of you are at least authoritative literature authors in Beijing. One of you is even some association’s Vice President, so don’t make us look down on you, alright? Even a layman like me can see how good Teacher Zhang Ye’s poems are. Yet you despise it? Just because he is young? Is age a reason? Is this the method that you use to belittle the works of others? Then aren’t you stooping too low!?”
“The previous poster said it well! Supporting Teacher Zhang!”
“Forever supporting Teacher Zhang Ye! Bull**** experts! Ignore them!”
“Teacher Zhang Ye’s poems are popular. Look at the number of forwards. Look at the comments. Look at the search hits of every poem of Teacher Zhang’s, as well as the clicks in any major discussion forum. The eyes of the masses are bright. The market has already made its judgment. I’m curious; why would some people be jealous of Teacher Zhang’s results? Must they jump out and say some words to stomp on him? Using Teacher Zhang’s words, why did you give up treatment?”
With Zhang Ye taking the lead, his fans also followed him to counterattack.
The Beijing poet, Big Thunder, also commented, “Do you know literature, or do we know literature? Just now, that love poem… Does anyone know what he is saying? Do you know? Don’t pretend to know if you don’t understand! Literature is literature! Art is art! They are not things used to fool others!”
ZhangYeNumber1Fan came out. Ever since the Weibo war of words, this hardcore fan of Zhang Ye would not hesitate to stand up whenever Zhang Ye faced troubles. He retorted, “Then can I ask Teacher Big Thunder above, ‘what is art?’ Do you not know? Well, is art something that depends on what you say? Then what are we commoners for? Then what’s the point of us poetry lovers? Literary works are things only you can enjoy? What a joke! To be a poet at such a level? You aren’t even a hundredth of Teacher Zhang Ye’s level! A literary work is for the commoners to see it and for them to resonate with it. They would be moved; they would have feelings. That is why Teacher Zhang’s poem is so popular. This is the literary judgment by us commoners!”
There were also capable people on Weibo.
For example, a person named HDUSOS09 said, “Let me first declare that I am neutral. I do not support either side. I’ve been reading all day and have seen Zhang Ye’s poem. I may be lacking in knowledge, but let me correct Teacher Big Thunder’s evaluation. I think it is quite biased. Love poem? I do not think it is a love poem. Although the poem’s text has the word affection, and even the ending has the word love, that is just something literal. If you can properly understand this poem, you will discover that this is a poem that is full of compassion. How can a person write about romantic love with a compassionate heart? That’s why my analysis is that Teacher Zhang Ye had written this poem to his fans. No, actually, it should be said that he wrote this poem to everyone in this world!”
“Please continue.”
“A capable person has come; please continue your analysis.”
“Waiting for the capable person to analyze this poem I couldn’t understand!”
A lot of comments came in below. Many of them did not understand what Zhang Ye wanted to express, but nonetheless they felt that the poem was especially carefree!
HDUSOS09 continued, “It is my personal opinion, but I think that Teacher Zhang Ye wanted to express love to the common person. He knew his work would not be accepted by everyone. Whether they scold him or dislike him, he will not be affected. He only wants to use his works to move people, touch people, help people. Which is why whether they see or not see him, he is neither sad, nor happy. Whether they follow or unfollow him, he will not discard or depart from them. Being a normal person, Teacher Zhang Ye might not be able to reach this state. But as a poet, he needs to have such an attitude. Yeah, this is what I see. I might not be correct, but this poem is so memorable and worth rereading; every sentence feels like it can make people think and reflect upon on it for a long time!”
“Well said!”
“It’s informative!”
“So that’s what it means! Thank you for the expert dissection!”
HDUSOS09 replied, “It not really a dissection; the poem is really deep, so even I don’t have the ability to analyze it. It is just my personal opinion. Nevertheless, the truth has been proven; who says Teacher Zhang Ye does not know how to write poems? Who says Teacher Zhang Ye’s poems are not works of literature or art? Don’t take others as fools! I am neither an author, nor poet, but I’m still considered a literary person. If i dare to say it today, just based on Teacher Zhang Ye’s ‘See Me or Not’ poem, there should be a place for Teacher Zhang in the nation’s literary circle! No one can deny the quality of his art!”
“I sincerely apologize. Listening to those dog s*** Beijing Writers’ Association’s Vice President and a few vocal authors, I thought they were correct. It made me post and criticize Teacher Zhang Ye. I’m so godd*mn stupid; why did I believe them at all! What professionals? In the future, I won’t listen to any professional opinions! I will trust in my own judgement! Teacher Zhang’s poems must be good poems! They moved me so many times!”
“I apologize, too. I was really confused just now!”
“Yeah. Who still f***ing dares to say Teacher Zhang Ye doesn’t know how to write poems?”
Zhang Ye’s fans who left came back again and made a scene. Zhang Ye proved his worth and, at the same time, responded back at those unscrupulous people!
But there were still scoldings.
“Bull****!”
“He only knows how to put on an act!”
“That’s right! You said it so amazingly! It was too exaggerated!”
“How come I didn’t see anything good about the poem? You guys are just bragging about Zhang Ye! How much did he pay you all? A dollar for a comment? You guys are so supportive with the bragging!”
“The professionals have stated their case and yet you all are unhappy?”
ZhangYeNumber1Fan could not longer stand it, “Comrades, when logic no longer works, what do we do?”
ZhangYeNumber1Fan seemed to have a good reputation and network on the internet. When he appeared, lots of trolls would respond to his callings. They had responded earlier, but were overwhelmed by the fans of those poets and authors. There were too many of them and the trolls were unable to do much. Now was the time to fight back!
“If logic doesn’t work, then there’s nothing to talk about anymore!”
“Let’s curse! Crash their Weibo!”
“When did our troll army ever need to use logic?”
“Hahaha. Logic was never our strong point!”
“All the discussion earlier… I did not understand one bit of it. Even the poem, I did not understand it. But so what! I just godd*mn support Teacher Zhang Ye!”
“Let’s attack, bros!”
“Buy watches for all of them!”
“It’s time for us to attack our enemies again!”
“My large saber is again again again unable to endure the thirst!”
“Quickly gather the forces; there’s nothing better than fighting our foes together with Teacher Zhang!”
Zhang Ye’s troll army once again embarked on a bloody battle with their enemies. This group of people with nothing to do, who could find fault with anything, were bloodthirsty. Nothing could stop them. To them, this was the joy of living.
The opponents’ fans were awed by Zhang Ye’s “See Me or Not”. Some of them even quietly logged off. They knew that they were behaving vexatiously earlier. A person who could write such an awesome modern poem, how could he not know how to write poems? But many of them still supported the teachers of the literary circle. To them, Meng Dongguo and the others were the seniors, Big Thunder and the others were the real professionals on poems. Since they rejected Zhang Ye’s literary upbringing, then they must be right!
Two sides cursed each other, but there was no clear outcome.
Close to 12 midnight, most people had logged off. After both sides came to a standstill, Zhang Ye’s modified poems were scheduled for an appearance!
There was “The Song of the Stormy Petrel”.
There was “Flying Bird and Fish”.
There was also “A Generation”.
Everyone was more than happy with Zhang Ye’s modified poems. This was something started by Zhang Ye, because no other writer had ever modified their own works for arguing!
“Proposing to me, or not. There will I stay, no sorrow, nor joy…”
“Marry me, or not. There will your mom always stay, sometimes sorrow, sometimes joy…”
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Ye’s “See Me or Not” Weibo message had been forwarded more than 2,000 times. There were more than 10,000 comments. Regardless of it being questioned, this poem had gone viral!
“Where’s Teacher Zhang?”
“Our standards are limited. Wishing for Teacher Zhang’s modifications!”
“Hahaha, that’s right. Every time Teacher Zhang modifies his own poems, he does it so well!”
Seeing this, Zhang Ye heeded their summons and came forward. Again, he displayed his self-mocking spirit and posted a new Weibo message.
“Fan me, or not. There will I stay, no sorrow, nor joy.”
“(Thread) Bumping me, or not. There will people stay, no coming, nor going.”
“Reply me, or not. There will the thread stay, no increase, nor decrease;”
“See me, or not. There my poem stays in your Weibo, no discarding, nor departure;”
“Come to my Weibo, or let me go to your Weibo. Forwarding with serenity. Comment that’s all!”
This was one of the modifications of “See Me or Not” in Zhang Ye’s world. Zhang Ye felt that this was most appropriate to obtain fans, so he sent it out.
When everyone saw this, they were in stitches!
“I’ve already fan-ed!”
“Must fan!”
“Teacher Zhang is too cute!”
“I love you, Teacher Zhang!”
“So well-written! Hilarious!”
“Teacher Zhang can always spare no effort to publicize himself in the best method! And he doesn’t even show a trace of that!”
“The critical thing is his magnanimity. Look at what sort of spirit Teacher Zhang has! He can make jokes and mingle with us. Look at all those Beijing literature bunch of so-called authors and poets. All of them are as if they are all so high and mighty!”
“That’s right!”
“As expected of Teacher Zhang to be cute!”
“Teacher Zhang is the greatest poet in my heart!”