The writing page – the “white execution ground” of conscience

I am pensive, the pen is also pensive.

The whole room was filled with silence.

White paper turns the execution ground white

Pointed at me thousands of invisible guns.

Newspaper page, poem from my heart and soul

Each word - a concern

Each key press is a burst of pain

Personal pain is imbued with life's pain

Being human, knowing human fate

Newspapers and poems do not speak insensitive words

Every page of the book is a white execution ground.

Pointing at me a thousand guns mercilessly

Hoang Binh Trong is a poet who has achieved fame in many fields: novels, poems, essays, short stories... In every genre, he has left a certain impression on readers. The poem "Before the Writing Page" by Hoang Binh Trong is a tormenting inner monologue, when the writer faces a blank page as if standing before a judgment of conscience.

Poet Hoang Binh Trong. Photo: Internet

The second stanza continues to take us into the inner depths of a person burdened with responsibilities. The words become a place where the worries and pain of life are compressed: The newspaper page, the poem of my life's heart/ Each word - a worry/ Each keystroke - a burst of pain/ Personal pain soaked with the pain of life.

Here, the poetic meaning shifts from visual images to psychological images. The writing page is no longer a place to simply “work”, but a place to reveal one’s guts, soul and personality. It is not just “writing to live”, but “living to write”. The writer has chosen an uneasy path: using words as swords, using language as weapons. That harshness does not come from outsiders, but from the demands of conscience. There is no room for lies, deceit or embellishment. There is only truth – even if it is painful, even if it can hurt oneself.

Indeed, being a human is difficult, being a writer is even more difficult, because one cannot escape the reality of life rushing in. The third stanza continues to elevate the poem's ideology, when expanding the individual ego into the collective ego: Having become a human, one knows how to sympathize with human fate/ Newspapers and poems do not speak insensitive words/ Every written page is a white execution ground/ Pointing at us with thousands of invisible guns.

“Being human” – a simple yet powerful affirmation. Being human means knowing how to sympathize with human fate, putting oneself in the pain, injustice, and adversity of others. For writers, that burden is even greater. Newspaper pages, poems – things that seem “distant”, “artistic” – if they do not carry love, if they are insensitive, then they are just cold products, even betraying humanity. There is no “safe writing page” if the writer still has a conscience. There is no “neutral zone” in the right – either fight against lies, or support them with silence.

The poem is not long, not polished, not full of rhymes or flowery rhetoric, but it depicts the fierce and sacred nature of the writing profession. Writing – especially journalism and prose writing – requires not only knowledge and skills but also honesty, courage and a kind heart. In the age of commercialized information, where “views” and “likes” can influence content standards, this poem is a strong reminder: Never let your pen become a tool of wrong, evil, or lies. Writers need to be awakened every day – not by external pressure, but by dialogue with themselves, with the “thousand invisible guns” aimed at their conscience.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202506/trang-viet-phap-truong-trang-cua-luong-tri-d37044a/