Love like you've never been hurt

Description

Poet Ryu Si-hwa, author of the poetry collections <I Miss You Even When You Are By My Side> and <The Love of a One-Eyed Fish> and who introduced the proverb poetry collection <If I Knew Then What I Know Now> and opened a new horizon called a 'compiled poetry collection,' has now published a collection of poetry on the theme of healing poetry. Healing Poem is a new genre that emerged in the 21st century when various meditation centers in the West began using poetry as a tool to heal the mind. It all started when psychotherapists, recognizing that the act of writing and reading poetry could be a great catalyst for opening closed minds and healing wounds, formed small groups and tried what they called poetry therapy. The word 'therapy' comes from Greek and originally meant healing through dance, song, poetry and theatre, i.e. expressive arts. Poetry therapy is a relatively new and unknown art form, but it is as old as the songs sung by primitive tribesmen around campfires. The songs, spells, and poems of that time were the very process of healing the human heart and soul. Freud said, “It was not I who discovered the unconscious, but the poet.” A leading figure in healing poetry is Bill Moyers, a television journalist based in the United States. He held televised discussions with Coleman Barks, Robert Bly, Joy Harho, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Octavio Paz on “the healing power of poetry,” reminding us that “poets speak on behalf of all of us about the hurts of life, and we need to listen to them to access healing.” Roger Housden, who travels around England and the United States giving poetry recitals, also reads poetry from a healing perspective. His unique poetry commentaries, 10 Poems That Open Your Heart and 10 Poems That Change Your Life, became bestsellers. Stephen Dobbins, a renowned American poet and novelist, said this about healing poems: “I believe that poetry has an emotional, intellectual and physical structure that reaches the reader’s heart and allows the reader to re-experience it. I think of poetry as a window between two rooms. Without that window, people would have to live alone in dark rooms.” Everyone has the ability to create poetry in their hearts. That is, there is a 'secret place' where poetry comes from, and there is the ability to enter there naturally and comfortably. Poetry is often considered a sentimental literary genre, but poetry is not sentimentality; it is a question that poses to the human heart about this mysterious life. Poetry teaches us a lot about ourselves and the world through its questions. When people hear about their experiences through the mouths of others, they feel comforted and realize that they are not alone in the world and that all beings are interconnected. Poetry is written from the poet's personal experiences, but it is also a tool that helps the reader listen to his or her own story. Poetry is nothing other than the reader's own story. The poet is a wounded healer. “Poetry is not words, but a fire to melt the cold, a rope to guide the lost, bread for the hungry,” said American poet Mary Oliver. A poem of healing and enlightenment, <Love as if you have never been hurt> includes poems by famous and unknown poets spanning 41 centuries, from ancient Egyptian papyrus scribes to Nobel Prize winners in literature. It contains 77 poems by representative contemporary poets such as Mary Oliver, Wislawa Szymborska, Jean Rousslot, Octavio Paz, and Takuboku Ishikawa; medieval Arab and Indian poets such as Jalaluddin Rumi, Kabir, and Omar Khayyam; and Inuit Indians, Japanese clog weavers, and Tibetan sages. These poems, collected over the course of eight years since the proverbs collection <If I Knew Then What I Know Now>, have healing and enlightenment as their themes. Life is full of many troubles and incidents, and we hear all kinds of unnecessary advice and noise. Life is also full of loneliness, regret, and anxiety. The poems in this collection encourage transcendence, rather than giving up and forgetting, as a way to overcome hurt, sorrow, and loss. And he says that the path to transcendence is first to live life faithfully. In his poem “The Inn,” Rumi sings, “Humanity is like an inn/Every morning a new guest arrives/Joy, despair, sorrow/And some fleeting moment of enlightenment/Come like unexpected visitors/Welcome them all and receive them/Even if they are a crowd of sorrow/And violently sweep away your house/And take away all your furniture.” Because “they may be cleaning you/to give you some new joy.” In a poem he wrote in prison, Nazim Hikmet sings, “The best poem is yet to be written/The most beautiful song is yet to be sung/The best days are yet to be lived/The widest sea is yet to be sailed/The longest journey is yet to be ended/When you no longer know which way to go/That is when the real journey begins.” The poems in this collection consistently remind us that life is more than just surviving. The poets say: To give up everything else in the world. Except for one thing: the life you truly want to live. In <Interview with God>, the poetic speaker asks, 'What is the most surprising thing about humans?' God answered: 'To rush into adulthood because childhood is boring/And then yearn to be children again/To lose your health to make money/And then lose all your money to get your health back/And miss the present because you're worried about the future/And so end up living neither the present nor the future/To live as if you'll never die/And then die meaninglessly as if you've never lived.' Real life starts now, and you must start living your life before it's too late. Poet Ryu Si-hwa says in his commentary on his poetry collection: “When one good poem is added, the world is no longer the same. Good poetry changes the way we live and the meaning of our lives, helping us understand ourselves and the world. Poetry makes the human soul speak. That hurt and that realization. That is the healing power of poetry. We do not love in order to be hurt, we get hurt because we love. When we touch ice, what we feel with our hands is none other than fire. Reach out to your hurting self. And touch the ice and the fire at the same time.” Poetry is the voice of the human soul. Poetry is the natural voice of the human soul. The voice of the soul whispers and sings. To hear that voice, you have to stop for a moment and listen. ‘Stopping life and listening’ is poetry. The soul is inherently a perfect being, and humans are merely experiencing imperfection on this planet with their physical bodies. That is, this life is part of the soul's journey. On this journey, people are both life itself and those who are hurt by life. But if you close your heart because of that wound, it will not only lead to a breakup with the person who hurt you, but also a breakup with the entire world. It is a disconnection from life, an isolation. This isolation slowly withers away one's soul. Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno said, 'Shake off the habit of sadness. And restore your soul,' he says. Good poetry has the power to heal, to regenerate, and to reach deep into the soul of the reader. The human heart is like a stone, and it can only be broken by another stone. As Wislawa Szymborska writes, nothing in life 'happens twice. That is why/we are born without practice and die without training/no day is repeated/no two nights are alike/no two kisses are the same/no two eye contacts are the same.' These poems from <Love as if you have never been hurt> are another special invitation to good poems introduced by poet Ryu Si-hwa.