By Dr. Abdulkareem Alhillo – Iraq

When Does the Poet Rest from Writing?

A Reflection on the Necessity of Stopping and Returning to Reading


In the life of a poet, there is no such thing as “retirement,”
nor even complete rest from writing.
For poetry, when it is genuine,
is not written—it is lived.
It is not abandoned—it merely changes form.
Yet, there comes a necessary moment,
an inevitable moment:
when the poet feels that writing
is no longer an act of freedom, but a burden;
that the poem is no longer an inner ritual,
but a formal obligation.
At that threshold,
stopping becomes an existential necessity-
not laziness, not weakness.
(1) Rest Is Not Regression
Some believe that when a poet stops writing or publishing,
it means they’ve faded.
But in truth, it may be a moment of inner ignition—
a hidden fire burning away the old to prepare the new.
Rest is not withdrawal from the field,
but from the noise,
from writing that no longer adds,
from repetition,
from flattery,
from writing as “production” rather than emergence.
(2) Reading: The Noble Rest of the Poet
In times of rest,
the poet returns to reading—
not as an ordinary reader,
but as one who drinks from a long-lost spring.
They read voraciously,
as if retraining their senses,
rediscovering their first astonishment.
Here, reading is not a hobby—
it is a cleansing ritual.
The poet who reads during their rest
is not wasting time,
but preparing their next language—
readying for the explosion of their next silence.
(3) Travel: Re-mapping the Geography of the Soul
If reading is a mental cleansing,
then travel is an emotional one.
When the poet travels, they are not escaping themselves,
but expanding.
They see the world with new eyes,
touch the unfamiliar, contemplate the strange,
and listen to the voice of the earth in a place they’ve never known.
Travel awakens the senses,
breaks the monotony of place,
and gives the poem a dimension that could not be anticipated.
Other cities are not just new locations,
but new possibilities for poetry—
different maps for wonder.
For the poet, travel is not a luxury,
but a necessity for aesthetic renewal.
Even their silence becomes denser
after a true journey.
(4) Rest Is an Act of Loyalty
Rest is not a retreat from the battle for beauty—
it is loyalty to beauty itself.
It is a rejection of the superficial,
a rebellion against “writing at any cost.”
The authentic poet does not write to be present,
but writes when summoned by language,
when meaning truly deserves to be written.
Thus, stopping becomes:
the highest form of loyalty to the poem,
and the truest resistance to falseness.
(5) Rest Is Not Silence
The poet in rest is not silent—
they speak in the voices of those they read,
and in the voices of the cities they visit.
They listen, reflect,
analyze, and reconstruct their inner world,
to later emerge with a voice more truthful,
and more wondrous.
This ravenous reading,
this contemplative travel—
these are what create “the coming poem.”
Not the one written now,
but the one fermenting in the depths.
Silent writings that prepare for the eruption of poetry.
In Conclusion
The poet does not fear rest—
they fear writing something unworthy of their silence.
So when they pause, they are not fleeing—
they are crossing an inner desert
where writing does not flourish,
toward green meadows that open their gates
without asking: Where have you come from?