Delivering a Feast of Poetry
Food delivery rider Wang Jibing finds inspiration in his work and everyday life, which encourages him to write poetry. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Food takeaway rider who finds respite from his daily work stress in writing poetry publishes his second collection in as many years, Chen Nan reports.
In 2019, Wang Jibing, a food delivery rider living and working in Kunshan, East China's Jiangsu province, had an unpleasant experience due to the wrong address left by a customer. Wang searched three buildings and climbed 18 floors before he finally managed to deliver the food to the customer, who rudely scolded Wang for arriving late.
Wang was sad and frustrated. As a husband and father of three children, who shoulders the majority of the financial responsibility in his family, he had to swallow the insult.
"If I argued with him, he would give me negative feedback and the company would have imposed a fine on me. I had no choice but to apologize repeatedly," recalls Wang, 54, who makes about 6,000 yuan ($823) a month by delivering food.
On his way home that day, Wang wrote a poem, Man in a Hurry, expressing his feelings.
"Wind is born from air in a hurry. A knife is forged from the wind in hurry … Man in a hurry has no four seasons. He only has one stop after another. His world is about the name of a place," he wrote.
[Photo provided to China Daily]
Since then, Wang has been writing poems inspired by his daily life, including a poem New Temple, which was conceived after he delivered food to construction workers repairing an old temple, and Forgive, based on his observation of a young couple fighting.
Wang's poems, simple yet real, are seen as a tool to process his emotions, especially the personal experiences he has during his work. His heart is healed by writing the poems, and he has shared them with his friends. In 2022, one of his friends posted Man in a Hurry online. It quickly went viral and was viewed for over 20 million times.
The same year, Wang published a collection of more than 180 poems, under the same title. The book's cover is blue, the same color as the uniform that Wang wears. His poems and stories deeply touched many people, who share similar struggles and negative emotion in their lives — so much so that the book's first 5,000 copies sold out.
So far, Wang has written about 4,000 poems.
[Photo provided to China Daily]
This April, Wang published his second poetry collection, titled I Love This World Clumsily, featuring about 130 poems he has written since July 2022.
"Poetry is like a distraction from stress and an opportunity to record my life. Whether it's coping with pain, dealing with stressful situations, or coming to terms with life's struggles, poetry makes me confident and happy," says Wang.
He adds that the income from the first book — about 20,000 yuan — made his wife very happy.
"My wife always describes me as a sentimental person and she didn't understand why I enjoy writing poems. Now, she is very supportive," says Wang. "My children didn't know about my habit of writing poems at all. Now that they know, they are also learning to write poems."
Born in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, Wang often fell sick as a child. He dropped out of school at the age of 14 and was sent by his father to practice martial arts.
He has always loved reading and writing. In 1992, he wrote an article, which was published in a magazine in his hometown. It made Wang very happy. However, Wang's father didn't take his son's passion seriously and they would regularly quarrel.
Food delivery rider Wang Jibing finds inspiration in his work and everyday life, which encourages him to write poetry. [Photo provided to China Daily]
In 2009, Wang bought a computer and started writing recreationally. He shared his articles and poems on social media, and received positive feedback from readers.
Wang worked as a construction worker before he switched jobs and became a food delivery rider, which he says "allows him to write, thanks to the flexible working hours". Now, his wife runs a small fruit shop in Kunshan, which also contributes to the family's income.
"The feedback from the readers is a big encouragement to me. I never planned to make writing my career and, even though I have published two books, I have no plans to quit my job and become a full-time writer," says Wang. "Those poems came to me naturally and I enjoyed writing them very much. However, the priority is to look after my family, so I will keep my regular job delivering food."
Food delivery rider Wang Jibing finds inspiration in his work and everyday life, which encourages him to write poetry. [Photo provided to China Daily]