Poetry is the moment of exception, a strange encounter takes place.
Interesting parallels, to lead us there.

Axilea

An interesting poem, Jude. I like it when the rest of the herd is out of sight:) Sheila

Beautifully written and very, very true.

All the images meld, transmute, and then again meld into a whole ocean of quest, mind travel, "butterfly's fluttering across wet sand", and the "words that flee (or escape) from the eye of the poet" together with the tie up "meaning absolved from being written" (as well unwritten) are some excellent evocative images that only create, diffuse, and again build that "poetic desire".
Last two lines gives the hairpin turn (shall I call "heroic ending") and direction to this well crafted poem, and shows that the narrator is still in quest of that absolute perfection, but he's conscious and can even anticipate what eyes can miss!

Jude - thought provoking poem. Loved those last two lines,

sometimes, words flee the eye of the poet
their meaning absolved from being written

- David

The wild horse is strong, the monarch delicate but proud. Wonderful poem Jude, you will capture those words.

Although this is expressive of a desire to perhaps be still to take stock and refind direction, I think it possibly answers its own quest: that final couplet is key, anchoring the whole and is testimony to the philosophical integrity and writerly maturity that it takes to be silent, rather than to belie meaning by misrepresenting it half-cocked. It is common, I suspect, for us in our enthusiasm to run with an inspiration or poetic conceit before it has properly reached its potential zenith within us; fleeing words are therefore a signal that the greater work is yet to be done subconsciously before meaning can adequately be deduced. In this way, words are under no obligation to stick around if they are not yet ready to reveal anything! :)) I very much like the countertensions you thus set up here: the need for stillness until the fleeing stops.

And I'm gratified to find our Hall of Mirrors mind-matrix still at work; I wondered whether you would somehow pick up that I had the Hendrix "Little Wing" lyric running through my mind when I wrote my last poem? I see the "butterflies and zebras" are both here - well, according to my string-theory reasoning, your heated wild horse in an unfamiliar terrain could well be a zebra, right?! :)) LOL!! Again, throwing in a totally subjective take on this poem, the atmosphere is very evocative of the windswept beaches of Costa de la Luz, which I love. Finding your stillpoint, knowing that the unseen inner landscape is all important, should cause the winds to drop and the compass to again find true north. Go placidly, Amigo. KirKus Kate xx

I can relate very closely to the thoughts that you share about words, Jude. Thought-provoking verses; thank you for sharing them. Love and peace to you,

Regis

i like this, love the depth, the provokation of thought

I wonder if they don't return at a later time after they have been seasoned by the raw elements of life. Deep and worthy of a second, no third reading. J'nia

You, as a poet, can't expect absolution for dark thoughts never written, but the silent applause from hearts that can't find where they are going.

Georg

I've been that wild horse at times, seeking familiar landscape...you write deep from within your soul, Jude.

So many times those words have often escaped my grasp...and then, it does not hold the same meaning when it was fresh upon my mind. Excellent work as always.

...there is something of dirge and lament here, Jude...more than just something

stay well

John

I can relate to this one for as writers and poets we tend to live a lot of what we feel and feel a lot of what we live, then writer about it all.
fee

We all need a land mark to maintain our direction and not become confused.

Damned if you were'nt speakin' of me with those last two lines, happens all the time, perhaps I got "oldtimers" disease...? e

SAID SO WELL JUDE SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE READING MY MIND. PEACE AND BLESSINGS MY FRIEND.. FROM A WILD HORSE YEARNING TO FIND THE HERD ONCE MORE..!!! <MIKII>

As usual Jude you have never dissappointed us with what you write.

Newfie Hugs, Rose

Jude, I am sure that we all absolve you from the lack of your written words. That is not to say that we certainly have missed your golden pen. We are all hungry for the words of such a master poet that we patiently await your next offering with love and acceptance.



The stanza about the wild horse got to me. It spoke to a deepness within my being. (Go and read my poem "Wild Fire", it makes me think of how I felt at the time that I wrote that poem)
We are all wild horses yearning to ride a wild free landscape. Sometimes our obligations and commitments hinder this freedom. Dreaming is the vehicle to that portal of freedom and fantasy. Dreams tell everything about the hidden messages that only our soul knows. When we dream, we dream in the color of our soul, sometimes black and white; when our logical mind seeps into them. (of course that is the devil's advocate so to speak, to our dreams becoming reality!) Don't allow black and white to color your dreams, find what is really in your soul and go for it, even if it means changing your image of what your landscape "should" be.



Very thought provoking poetry as always, my dear Shaman.

To dreams and to the freedom of dreaming.



Much peace, light and love,

Amber

in my case, words don't exactly flee the eye of the poet. they implode inside collapsing brain cells like submarines tumbling toward sea beds.

Absorbing thoughts, penned with resolve.

Ron

Things have changed, haven't they? It's really no longer recognizable. Just another site obliterated by shallow sands blown into the horizon of nothingness. Herds go elsewhere to graze...dreams have to find their way to become reality one day or they die out...I've missed your poetry, Jude...here's to the dreamers and the windmills watering their literary pastures...

s

as always, your work inspires

i can relate to this..luv the contrasts of the gentle butterfly and powerful horse here

It is sometimes difficult to comprehend what the sub-conscious mind has intended, until we link it to the conscious. It is there that the dream seems reach a higher degree of clarity. To live the dream is always a blessing and a new and deeper delving into introspection. Lovely poem, Jude.
Take care,
Sherry

I love this. It is meaningful to me. I mainly write to clear things out of my head.