Twenty-eight free verse poems offer a delicate blend of concrete and abstract thought in this collection espousing a seamless and endless personal relationship with the universe.
Sullivan attributes her love of horses as inspiration for the work, including the final poem, “The Windhorse” in which an equestrian dream reveals God’s love. Perhaps the author also should credit famed inspirational poets Rumi and Hafiz, whose general concepts (e.g., we are one with God; life should be a dance) and specific metaphors (e.g., song, music, light, star, seeds, bloom, flower, Beloved, etc.) appear repeatedly throughout this book.
These numerous similarities blur the line between inspiration and imitation. In one of many such examples, Hafiz writes, “when the heart tastes its glorious destiny” then “God’s lute, will beg / For your hands.” In “Love Song,” Sullivan writes,” “Fill me with your grace / so that I may be a light upon this world. / I am a flute waiting to be played by you.”
Likewise, in one of Rumi’s poems, he writes how humans long for “the touch of Spirit on the body” such as when “seawater begs the pearl to break its shell.” In “Pearl,” Sullivan writes, “Luminous lights kiss my form” as she realizes she is, “a luminosity, a bright effervescent living pearl.”
Despite lovely sentiments expressed in The Windhorse, enlightened readers seeking further illumination may not find anything fresh here, given the poems’ similarities to others that have come before. Poetry lovers just beginning a spiritual path may find this book an interesting, if derivative, philosophical introduction.
Also available as an e-book.
