“Never before there have been so many poets and poetry fans,” said poet Vu Quan Phuong.

There are dozens of thousands of poetry writers throughout the country.

“There are about four thousand poetry collections published each year,” he said. “Poetry has become an elegant spiritual creative endeavour, which should be respected and encouraged. Composing poems has become a passion of the whole community, but few poetry reciting galas have been organised.”

Big-name publishers are no longer interested in printing poetry collections. That’s why poets themselves pay their own money to publish their work and struggle to sell their books.
“So our poetry is developing or descending? Some people said the more poetry is popular, the more trivial it is. We have seen no advanced features in contemporary poetry but no one wants to believe it is descending,” he said.

Poet Nguyen Viet Chien held that in the last year, poetry “lost the harvest” as there were no main prizes given to poets by the Vietnam Writers’ Association, the Hanoi Writers’ Association and HCM City Writers’ Association.

“There are too few good poems while too many bad ones,” he said. “That’s why poetry collections were printed but could not be sold, just for handing out as souvenirs.

“Many people said the golden time of Vietnamese poetry has passed and the poetry era has gradually disappeared, replaced by a technologically advanced era with the global integration of telecommunications technology and mass media,” Chien said.

“I have a sense that some young writers have focused on exploring strange things to express what others had not dared or avoid to mention,” commented poet Thanh Thao. “Even so, there remains a silent gap in poetry. Many writers tend to compose poems on the hard life of poor people in rural areas, while poems on urban rhythms seem to overwhelm the tranquility and peace of countryside.”

“While many poets like writing in new genres, the content of poems are not diversified,” he added. “No writers edge towards taboo topics in poetry. Love poetry seems to be more popular while there are fewer and fewer poems on burning issues.”