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

Pointing at me thousands of invisible guns.

Newspaper page, poem from my heart and soul

Each word - a concern

Every key press a pain bursts

Personal pain is imbued with life's pain

Being human, knowing human fate

Newspapers and poems do not speak indifferent words

Every page of the book is white

Pointing at me a thousand guns mercilessly

Hoang Binh Trong is a famous poet in many fields: novels, poems, essays, short stories... In every genre, he leaves a certain impression on the readers. The poem "Before the writing page" by Hoang Binh Trong is a tormented 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 with heavy responsibilities. The words become a place to repress the worries and pain of life: The newspaper page, the poem of my life's heart/ Each word - a worry/ Each keystroke is a burst of pain/ Personal pain is 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 being, 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 opposing lies, or supporting 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/