The Chinese word for poetry, Shih,
does point to what are the pillars
and obligatory elements for the art
and its tongue and penetrating sense
that sings by knowing and knows
through breath’s harmonic chants.
For Shih was originally Chih
(perhaps akin to the Slavic Cit,
the knowing feel and sense coiled
like a snake around the axial root
from which the word poesy too stems?)
that meant “from the heart,” and the heart
then became royal court and temple too.
And, so, two things are needed most
for poetry to live, to know, to sing—
a sacred space and deeper heart with beat.
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