Mightier than the sword

Some online search engines can produce poetry, "but it's just a bunch of irrelevant images spat out randomly, just like the stream-of-conscience stuff that someone who is schizophrenic might produce", Yu says.

"Perhaps one day if a machine can write real poetry that accords with its feelings, experience or emotions, perhaps it will be understood only by another machine."

In such a highly rational society with the fast development of artificial intelligence, poetry is so utterly precious because for humans it is irreplaceable, he says.

"Perhaps poetry can save us from reason," Yu says.

The day after the poetry night in Nanjing, poets and audiences read to each other at Librairie Avant-Garde.

As a young woman read Moon Chung-hee's poem A Letter from the Airport, tears ran down Moon's cheeks, and when the reading finished she clapped warmly.

When Adonis read his poem Notes in a strong yet aging voice in Arabic ("The sun, and moon/ Are twins/ Living on their own/Separately/Out of hate? Or love?), it was impossible - thinking of the fate of his homeland - to hold back the tears.

When Gabeba Baderoon talked in a low and gentle voice, in a poetic way, about the daily life of her and her mother who was losing memory and the ability to talk because of Alzheimer's disease in a poetic way, the Chinese interpreter sobbed, too.

Poetry, as Baderoon said, can transcend the barriers of language, distance and culture, and clarify the ambiguity of texts, reaching directly to one's heart with its honesty and power to reveal the truth.