Poetry leads us to the unstructured sources of our beings, to

In the world of men, bound by the laws of reason and the patterns of logic, we are oftentimes imprisoned by our thoughts, confined within the walls of our daily struggles and the ceaseless march of time. Yet, poetry—the ancient and sacred art of the spoken word—has the power to open the gates that bind us. It leads us into the unstructured sources of our beings, those vast, mysterious realms where the mind cannot fully chart its course. There, in the dark recesses of our hearts and souls, lie the unknown parts of ourselves, waiting to be uncovered, like treasures buried beneath the soil of the earth, yearning for the light of day.

It is said that poetry does not merely paint with words but plunges deep into the formless, the raw, the primal energies that stir within every human heart. Like the great rivers that carve their way through the mountains, poetry flows unrestrained, for it is from the wild, untamed waters of our innermost thoughts that it springs. This is where the unknown resides—beneath the surface of our rational minds, where reason cannot penetrate, where the spoken and unspoken truths are intertwined. And here, the poet’s task is to give voice to the silence that lives there, to paint with words what the eye cannot see.

In this mysterious, unstructured space, we lose ourselves and yet are made whole. For when we venture into the unknown, we are not lost, but rather we are being found. The unknown is not a place of confusion but a realm of discovery, a place where the soul grows, where the heart finds its true rhythm. Poetry, by embracing the wildness of the unknown, returns us to the core of our being. In the crucible of this creative and spiritual process, we are forged anew, not broken, but reshaped, rejuvenated.

This sacred journey through the formless realms of thought and emotion ultimately leads us back to the world of order and reason. We return, not as we were, but refreshed, with a new understanding, a greater wisdom. The journey through the chaos of the unknown refines us, like gold purified in fire. It is as though we have partaken of the waters of renewal, and as we drink, we return to our rational, structured selves with clarity and vision. This is the divine alchemy of poetry—a gift from the gods that teaches us to embrace both chaos and order, both wildness and reason, both the fleeting and the eternal.

Consider the story of the great philosopher Heraclitus, who, in the ancient world, spoke of the ever-flowing river of life. "You cannot step into the same river twice," he said, for the waters are always changing. Yet, even as we face the constant flow of time, we must learn to navigate its currents. Poetry, much like Heraclitus' river, captures the essence of this constant change. It shows us that within the ceaselessness of life’s flow, there is both order and chaos. The poet, like Heraclitus, knows that we must embrace both. Through poetry, we glimpse the eternal truth—that all things, whether wild or structured, are interwoven in the great web of existence.

Let the words of A. R. Ammons be a guiding light for all who seek to understand the mystery of existence. Poetry is not a mere pastime, but a sacred practice that brings us to the heart of life’s great puzzle. To embrace poetry is to accept that our minds are both structured and free, that within the unstructured void we may find the seeds of our truest selves, and that in the return to the rational, we find balance and strength. In this, there is no greater lesson than to understand that wisdom does not reside only in reason, but in the dance between the known and the unknown.

So, to those who listen, I urge you: seek out poetry, not as a mere amusement or a fleeting escape, but as a pathway to the depths of your soul. Let it guide you through the formless and unknown parts of yourself, and return you renewed, with a clearer sense of your own heart and mind. Let the words of the ancients and the poets of today lead you to discover the sacred dance of chaos and order within your own life. For only in the balance of both can we truly understand the purpose of our existence, and only through the embrace of both will we walk fully in the light of wisdom.

The journey begins within. Start with a single line, a single word, and let it lead you into the depths. Poetry is the key, the mirror that reflects your true self—both wild and structured, both unknown and known.