Fire in the Earth

Work/werk/n:  an oppor-

tunity for discovering

and shaping;

the place

where the

self meets

the world

--From David Whyte's book Crossing the Unknown Sea:  Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity.

The quote above, as well as the following poem, written by Pablo Neruda, describe what writing means to me and what it feels like when the writing is going well.  The poem is translated by David Whyte and is in his book of poems, Fire In The Earth.  Earth is a metaphor for our bodies; the fire is the soul, the center, the self.  It is where our creativity and imagination originate.

LA POESIA

...And something ignited in my soul,

fever or unremembered wings,

and I went my own way,

deciphering

that burning fire

and I wrote the first bare line,

bare, without substance, pure

foolishness,

pure wisdom

of one who knows nothing,

and suddenly I saw

the heavens

unfastened

and open.

To me, this is what the early stages of writing feel like.  That initial spark of something we know or remember, the impetus to get it down, the first effort which is without form, foolish even.  But pushing through that first stage, you reach a moment of transcendence, of connection.  A moment when the heavens open and we feel connected to something greater than ourselves.