In February 2024, the "headline poet" of "Poetry Magazine" is Ma Xing, and "Poetry Magazine" published Ma Xing's ten-section long poem "The Work Number of the Earth". According to reports, Ma Xing used to be a geologist. However, it doesn't seem to be the case now, and he has become an "honorary employee" of the geological exploration team. Remember that there were honorary citizens, honorary professors, and "honorary employees"?
In 2024, after the revision of "Poetry Magazine", the first issue of "Headline Poet" Wen Wen is a mine worker. Obviously, the second issue continues this characteristic, that is, the "headline poets" come from front-line workers. Even if it wasn't now, it used to be. In any case, the "headline poets" are able to speak in poetry, not in terms of work.
Ma Xing's poem "The Work of the Earth", published by Poetry Magazine this time, is a long poem, and it cannot be fully displayed here. So, only the beginning and the end are shown here, which are verses 1 and 10. Even so, it still seems relatively long.
To be honest, I didn't appreciate poetry at a good level, and reading long poems was even more difficult to grasp, and I even had a headache when I saw the word "long poem", and this time was no exception. Ma Xing's "Earth Reading Worker", I did read it carefully, and I read it more than once. But as a result, I still don't get to the point. So, this poem, I can't say anything.
Let's talk about something else. In 2024, the most anticipated thing in the poetry world should be the revision of "Poetry Magazine" and the official release of "Contemporary Poetry". But now it's February 5th, and there is still no news update from "Contemporary Poetry". On the other hand, the "Poetry Magazine" launched a revised publication step by step.
However, some readers who received the first issue of the revised "Poetry Magazine" reported that the appearance, as well as the paper and design, were a bit unsatisfactory. Some people will say that the focus of a publication is on the content, and the appearance is not so important. However, as the "only first-class poetry journal", "Poetry Magazine" should also pay attention to its appearance.
What about the content of the revised "Poetry Magazine"? I don't subscribe to Poetry Magazine, so I don't have a say. However, judging from the "headline poets" in these two issues of "Poetry Magazine", I feel that "Poetry Magazine" has moved towards another form, that is, focusing on the poet's own work, or the nature of work.
It is estimated that this is the reason why "Poetry Magazine" wants to be grounded, but grounding is not called grounding when it is to launch the works of front-line workers, but because the poetry itself must be grounded. In other words, no matter what the poet's job is, and no matter what the reader's job is, as long as you read these poems, you will have a kind of "empathy" or "resonance", that is, it is really down-to-earth.
In fact, Ma Xing has been a well-known poet for a long time, and his poetry works have often appeared in major publications. Obviously, there is still a lot to be done and a long way to go. The most important thing about the success of the revision lies in the "revision" of the editor. Only when the editor's thinking is changed and the editor's way of selecting the manuscript is changed, can the real revision be achieved.