My impression gathered from the wording of your verses and from seventy-four years of at times difficult and at times wondrous existence is that far too often we ponder our presence rather than indulging in it.

Nowadays I'm far more into enjoying my everyday life and the sharing of it with family and my lovemate of sixty years than I am about being concerned about fulfilling every vision. Rather than endure the frustration of waiting for a "busted" elevator, I take advantage of the "still" time to enjoy the memory of the shared embrace with my beloved wife as I left on the journey of the day.

I love the lyric of the Beatles' song Let It Be. (Do I credit the right member: John Lennon?) There are so many unsettling human relationship matters to be concerned with in today's society that to regard myself and my place in the universe--now and "inside a memory of what we will become"--is unbecomingly self-centered.

"Love thy neighbor as thyself and let the rest be damned" is more in tune with my philosophy of life. But your poem certainly started my wheels turning!

Deep stuff, Jude. Probably too deep for the simple guy I've become.
Maybe as I read more of your posted offerings I'll develop better insight.
Thanks for stirring my pot.
Richard

A very deep moving poem.......M

Oh... Jude! You drove me to tears. This is deeper than deep. A subject hard to contemplate, yet somehow we must... eventually.

Carmen

I was a thousand leagues under the sea on this one Robert, truly deep captivating poetry to ponder and wonder over

WoW
again with these way out lines
if i wrote them all you'll have another book
this speaks directlt to the heart and soul of most poets/ writers
all of us seems to havebeen here, know this or know it is to come
thats says alot about you sir Jude
and your spirit.......
one of my favorites (and not do to conceit :))

good one; as always I enjoy your work

Some heavy duty renderings here, Jude!
I understand most of it...but I guess, since I can't begin to
consider myself a 'real poet,' that is why some of it will remain
unclear to me.
You are a writer of tremedous depths, that's for certain.

Some pondersome thoughts to my presence.

Ron

An astounding poem, I haven't the ability right now to make much comment, except to say you continue to grow to ever higher levels perfecting your craft, earning the name Bard!

Great images grace these lines. Well done

In the neighborhood we live in,
We shuffle through weary crowds,
Wait at broken traffic lights, purchase stale groceries,
Converse about global warming
In drafty lobbies
Waiting for busted elevators

Awesome imagery here. I can feel it and hear it. To me this is just another day in the neighborhood. Great job, Jude.

~hugs~
Karen

Great pen...Hugss

After the thinking, and writing and existing????
Hopefully higher living :)
thought provoking
pax A

"every motif has written of/And every vision has been fulfilled"- the idea of everything being fine and complete is so alien to us. What would we do without discontent, without something to fix or illuminate? Wonderful thought provoking poem here, Jude.

Brett

"...looking for footprints we never left..." sounds like a worthy
pursuit, jude, particularly given the empty option of pondering
our presence.
beautiful, haunting write.
peace,
carolyn

Great write on the existential question. "What is man, this quintessence of dust?" I think wrote Shakespeare, "the medium is the message" wrote McCluhan and "the revolution will not be televised," wrote Gil Scott Heron.
You've succeeded at the the removal of the seventh veil here, clearing eyes that may not see. Adding your voice to that great cosmic consciousness that we call perhaps too many different names.
It surely is one heck of a ride though!
thanks for a masterful , muscular poem.
simon

YOU ARE SO GOOD!!!! Fantastic work.

Allen

WOW striking and thought provoking

This pondering thoughts left me speechless

This poem speaks to me very loud and clear

When our words coincide with

The dust of the afterlife

Powerful statement but I agreed with Fee comment!

Jude This is a very powerful write and

An excellent words to ponder!!

I Love It!!
Love And Peace To You Always..Morning Star

"And what will be left to write about
When our words coincide with the dust of the afterlife?"

These verses in particular but also the whole poem spoke to my soul, Jude. Thank you for sharing your gift. Love and peace to you,

Regis

Only Thing That Really Matters In END Is:

My (Your) Reputation...

Another Z Best Pondering Presence...

TRASK

'Pondering Presence' contains a lot of truth; your write is powerful and just.

And we find ourselves back here
With closed eyes
Looking for footprints
We never left
Or had the desire to possess

... together with Sherry's comment, this is one part and shade of meaning of this tightly woven and intricately patterned write that really impacts me. Yes, we do shut our eyes to the Bigger Picture, sometimes - either through negligence or simply because of inconvenience to the speed, smooth-running and pattern or our habitual and well-worn grooves. And often those fresh footprints are only discerned extra-sensorially, so they are very easy to marginalise in terms of their impact or relevance to our established lives.

LOVE your use of the word "conceit". I was always tickled by that concept at college... "poetic conceit" sounded so pompous and affected. But I love the sense of paradox here: we can live our material present in the here and now as a grandiose conceit of hot-air, based on nothingness. Vain conceit is not restricted to beliefs or hopes about the sense of an afterlife.

And I like the ideas this sows in my mind about the usefulness of words... or not, as the case may be. Words seem to be vehicles to enable us to convey the sense of struggle and desire for knowledge and understanding in this life. Therefore, perhaps there IS the sense that they may become redundant in an after-life which is founded on the Heavenly notion of "absence of struggle".

So many thoughts here I could elaborate on. But I'll be good. But this is so image-rich, Jude and conceptually elaborate. Well-grounded and anchored in the physical as well as speaking into ethereal conceits.

One of your recent best, I reckon. TY Kate xx

"On fields lay barren by winter stroke:
We move away
From gathering
Together, taking into consideration the possibility
Of not seeing each other ever again"

Well said!!

Love Tinka

It is always an indeed pleasure to read such fine well written artistic work. I love coming out to my favorite den where you all inspire me so much every day. What I read share and know is such a wonderful view. Stay focused and always write on.

It is somthing that every writet ponders but also deep down I think as a writer and a poet our work will never truly dissappear for it lives on in the air of creativity, perhaps as we pass that spark jumps into anothers soul to continue the tradition that we know and love as poetry.


Fee

Jude,

What an opening line!!!! "On fields lay barren by winter's stroke" BRILLIANT

As is the rest of this contemplative poem: one of your best. Definately a keeper: thank you! Wish I'd written it.

(((HUGS))) and love, Karla/

Excellent Jude, you lay it all out there...and let us do the pondering
peace and love,
Carole~

I guess we have to wait and see...

There is much here to ponder about what the future holds, "When our words coincide with the dust of the afterlife." The images you create within the question:
"What will be left but a compilation of poems
Pasted on the walls of our perishing synapses?
Reconstituted in the lava of a vanishing world?"
are striking and thought provoking. Well done!
~Butch

what will be left to write about? Perhaps the whole experience seen through all knowing eyes will make the lessons understood. there will be no questions then. Good thought invoking write. Lady J

Who knows about our future and how it will end,all we can do is move forward as best we can and write what we see and feel,thanks for sharing,
God Bless,
Michael

...and within the true soul, leave me with not the one that appears to be writing, but the one that is writing. That's pondering true presence.
Excellent thought-provoking write Jude, but even moreso, an outstanding reflection on what mankind really wants to hear, when you no longer have the chance to write. Give up your soul's true ponders, and there the footprints will forever be seen with closed eyes in a barren world!
I love how this makes me feel!
Love and Peace~
Kimmy~

Jude,

I know one thing for certain. After all is said and done nothing behind me will matter anymore. I will wish them all farewell and best of fortune but today I will plod along just another audible pen in the universe.

'Except for the direction our evolving conceit
And the clamor of our pondering presence'. Ah! the clamor of that pondering presence chasing us to remember. Well done.

An apocaliptic

Excellent poem Robert. The sun betrays us in winter, but don't fret, spring will be here soon.

This is truly food for thought Jude. Deep thoughts and realistic images.

An exceptional write Jude...the imagery is wonderful...given the reader a view of the bronx through your creative write...very thought provoking. Makes one stop and think about where they've been, what we have done while living, the possibilities of our future here, and also where we are going after life! Enjoyed this write much...you've given the reader much to think about!
Blessings,
Joyce Bowling

I agree that this is a wonderful searching, thoughtfully troubled net of notions and warnings we ought to read over and absorb. I am very much aware of the urgency of recognition and of the determination to act upon our conclusions.
Thank you for this poem.

Mahdi

Wonderful write, with much to stir the imagination and think about. Where are we heading in this life---where is the world heading?

This one is a mind stretcher. In only two readings, I've picked up on different takes that boggle my ancient mind. I'll leave to others the dissecting of your words and intent, but I compliment you on being able to conceive and write such observations. The answers you predict are frightful, but plausible... if one could live that long. Thank you for stretching our minds with your able pen. - Bill

Great images, good thought processes, and excellent metaphors. Your poem is a powerful one, poet.

George

hi Jude. read this earlier and was profoundly moved by it. as usual, had to digest a bit. I like the combo of your "what will be left" question alongside the gritty here and now imagery in the first half of this piece. there's a pessimistic tone to this that makes me think harder about your message. your writing is often sophisticated but resonates with those thoughts and questions and dreams that bounce around inside us all. thx, Dawn

Storytellers and poets will always, always have a place at storytelling fairs, those Renaissance Faires where professional poets/storytellers travel the globe to share those compilation of poems preserved by the National Association for the Perpetuation and Preservation of Storytelling.

"Where everyone is a poet
And every motif has written of
And every vision has been fulfilled"

Poetry and stories should be used to teach in an entertaining way.
I am fond of poetry that has survived solely from memories...it is rare...as technology developed, poetry/stories have been carved in wood and bamboo, ivory and stone, and now we have sophisticated multimedia storytelling...the gift is to be able to write it in whatever medium the poet chooses and share it with the world to keep vocabulary alive in the mental storehouse.

A good poet/storyteller gives the listener or reader a sense of making order out of chaos, as Pondering Presence fits into this category. Poetry/Stories that appeal to generation after generation are the stories that are never resolvable - just as life is never resolvable; we are archetypal visionaries, there will always be an ancient residual character to write about, crone, a tavern maid, a woodcutter, a Bronx poet...


Sage

We all want to know that we have left something of ourselves behind, even when we say, "Oh just cremate me and scatter my ashes" that in itself is a declaration of conceit LOL, my personal one is to be buried under an old tree in the bush somewhere, ashes that is...LOL, isnt mankind a vain creature.

Excellent write Jude, as always you provoke the mind, Even when it's all out of thought LOL, TY ;)
Ch'erie

Finding the self is such a revelation, but knowing that it may not be possible to share it with others, or to feel the need to lock it away for safe keeping, is haunting, Jude. It seems that the world is not ready for truth and it certainly is not ready for all that I am and all that I have the potential to be. We stiffle much that we may be part of the mass and we think and do things that bore us for the sake of fitting in. Once they burned women, and sometimes men, who had insight or who seemed to be such Sages that they could tell the stories of the days to come. Surely they must be witches and there was no way to tame their elevated thoughts. Though we don't burn people like that anymore, we still feel the need to dominate and often times, even destroy that which we cannot tame or contain. Lots of depth to this piece, Jude, and many levels for the reader to conceive an understanding of their own. A most subjective and wonderful poem!!
Take care,
Sherry

"Where everyone is a poet
And every motif has written of
And every vision has been fulfilled

Except for the direction our evolving conceit
And the clamor of our pondering presence "
WHOA Powerful and thought provoking.

Great write, I think it's possible that the only person we are meant to spendyour life or forever with is the one you meet when life is over and forever begins.
alot of emotion prevaild here in this poem.
Excellent, Crissy