by Melody Landeros

Created on: May 29, 2009

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words."

Robert Frost

Poetry, the best poetry is often a delicate balance between the heart and the mind. All poetry starts as an emotion, about some aspect of mankind and is examined in inumerate fashions. The mind may muse upon events, emotions, beliefs and moments of simply being. The heart takes these musings about that emotion that began the journey towards the formation of this writing. The mentalist becomes the artist with a blank canvas and begins to paint the images in words to invoke reactions as food for thought or musings for the heart and soul.

The mind poet will seek out imagery that may be stark and use words that allow the mind's eye to see the image clearly and to seek an intellectual response to these images. And yet, what of emotions, for is it not emotions that seek the deeper meaning of what the poet is seeking to express?

An interesting example would be that of the butterfly that flits from flower to flower. The poet may examine this butterfly with his mind, as a member of the order of the Lepidoptera. The mind may examine the cycle of the butterfly as having the stages of caterpillar, a pupal stage and the transition into the butterfly with a cycle of life quite short in comparison to humans. The poet may use the butterfly as a symbol of the life cycle, birth, life and transition to death. This view maybe very scientific, and yes may be though provoking, but isn't it with emotions that we truly feel the butterfly and the miracle that is a butterfly?

The poet of heart may see this butterfly as a magnificent miracle of nature. This butterfly may be described with all the colors of emotions, as a creature of grand beauty and a symbol of the metamorphosis to humans seeking spiritual or emotional evolution. The poet of heart will paint feelings of joy, sorrow, happiness and wonder with the simplest of emotional adjectives.

The challenge becomes that balance between the mind and heart to be able to keenly observe and record with the eye of perhaps the scientist and the words of the artist who paints emotions all the colours of the human emotional spectrum. The poet may examine the subject and yet the choice of words for this poem should be impacted by the emotions of lack of emotions for the subject. Poetry is meant to capture the imagination, the emotions, and become a part of the thoughts of the reader. Thus is is not hard to see why poetry is indeed a balance between the heart and the mind.

Learn more about this author, Melody Landeros.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.