I have almost given up teaching poetry. A person in the bible study group asked
me to teach her poetry. But it was failed. Many people don't read words, compare
to pictures or numbers, let alone taking the time to understand the backgrounds,
techniques, emotions of poetry. Even if the poetry is written in everyday
vernacular. Many poems are quoted for commercial advertisements, but people
don't care about the struggling of poets. Some people favor science and reason.
People can get paid to learn computer programming but not poetry. Both poetry
and music are very personal. I don't dare to express which work I like. Once a
student mentioned a very shallow modern pop music. I said it was very bad. But I
didn't know that actually he liked it very much. The more I read poems, the more
I understand "the reason I continue giving lectures is that I hope to leave
something behind for those who enjoy Chinese poetry, something that might help
them get a start in learning it," which is what Professor Florence Chia-ying
Yeh, who passed away in Tianjin, once said. But what we can do is very limited.
As a Japanese friend said, the wearing of kimono is like a dying art.
