poetry?

.

Now, what is poetry?

If you say it is simply a matter of words, I will say a good poet gets rid of words.

If you say it is simply a matter of meaning, I will say a good poet gets rid of meaning.

"But," you ask, "without words and without meaning, where is the poetry?"

To this I reply, "Get rid of words and get rid of meaning, and still there is poetry."

~ Yang Wan-li

translation by Jonathan Chaves