Farmer breathes life into poems

Chinese farmer Yu Xiuhua has been praised as China's Emily Dickinson by the media. [Photo/Xinhua]

"Compared with poems by other poetesses in China, hers stand out like a killer among groups of ladies," Liu Nian, editor of the Chinese literary journal Poetry, said about Yu Xiuhua's works.

In "Crossing big China to sleep with you," Yu wrote, "Across China, all is happening: volcanoes are erupting, rivers are running dry. Political prisoners and the displaced were disregarded, elks and red-crowned cranes were shot to the ground. And I, I trespassed a hail of bullets to sleep with you, I pressed nights into a dawn to sleep with you, I gathered all I am to sleep with you."

Tagged as the "poetess with cerebral palsy (a condition characterized by a group of permanent movement problems)" and a seemingly paradoxical "China's Emily Dickinson" in media reports, Yu's work has recently gone viral on WeChat, China's largest standalone messaging app.

And her blog, previously with less than 200 followers, has now climbed to over 5,000 followers, with more than 400,000 hits.

Her fans are not shy of expressing their love of her works.

One left her a message: "Your poem moved me. It's been a long while since I tasted my tears." Another wrote: "Your poem made me realize that the poetry is still alive."