Poem: 'The Heart of Writing Poetry'

Place your heart here
and go nowhere else,
just keep searching for words.

Sharpen the five senses that humans possess,
everything felt there is reality,

by slipping through
and passing by it,

a dream world where words emerge expands,
and when it reaches romance,
it becomes a flower and scatters before your eyes.

Drop the proof of living into your heart,
and weave together the path you walk.

The self that has been expressed
dances on a single stage.

In a life that doesn't even amount to a dot,
if the letters gain color,
and weight and depth increase,

the depth called the unknown
will stretch far into the future.

With feet still planted on the ground,
chasing the flowing words,
beyond the connected letters,

I guide a single poem
into my own heart.

　　　　　　　　　Sara

If asked what kind of poem I want to write?

'Between reality and dreams',
'A balance of lightness and weight'—that is how I answer.

When it is overflowing with a sense of reality,
I feel boredom,
and the words can seem monotonous and dull.

When it is overflowing with a dream space,
it becomes a self-indulgent world,
with incomprehensible words lined up,
and I feel like something is missing.

Poems are not as long as essays or novels,
and I feel their structure is ambiguous.

If it leans too far, the words I cast out
often just come right back,
and end without ever reaching anyone.

First, with the 'heart' as the core,
I spend my days finding and chasing words.

Poems written on tired days are realistic,
poems written on energetic days are idealistic,
poems with such tendencies

I let rest for a while to settle.

Even if I feel that a poem written when my emotions are steady and fresh
feels just right,

this heart is always troubled,
swaying between wanting to write and being unable to.

I believe that the strength to face that
is what connects to the heart of writing poetry.