I put up a little poetry and everybody disappears. But I am not discouraged. I will celebrate poetry month with or without youse.
Maybe this one will get you in the mood. My strong suggestion: read it out loud. By a master: Pablo Neruda
Poetry
And it was at that age…Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don’t know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.
I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating planations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.
And I, infinitesmal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
I felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke free on the open sky.
You've stumbled across my official website and landed on the front page of my weblog.
I hope that things get easier and that everything is getting along ok. Hope the Mathematician is doing alright as well.
I was looking to see if you had reviewed or commented on “The Red Tent” at some point in your blog, and on the search I did, I bumped into your first entry. It was so interesting to read the stories you’ve told about storytelling. Sometimes we just live it, eh?
I finished Tied to the Tracks and read Homestead this weekend. I loved TttT, it is fun and the characters are real, Patty-Cake, what a head case. Miss Zula, not a SDMN but an interesting character, a person I would like to have in my family, because if I wasn’t related to her I would be intimidated by her. Once I got into Homestead I was unable to put it down. The web of interconnected people and the town seemed so real. I enjoyed never seeing what was going to happen, people I thought were going to die lived forever and not all mysteries are solved. Wonderful writing and as always very interesting.
Carolyn — I’m so glad to hear that you liked both those novels, which really, could hardly be more different from each other.
Thanks for letting me know. Very kind of you.
Hang in there Rosina, nothing more nervewracking then a illness in the family, for all involved. Why I remember one time…hehe jus kidding, this post is for you and yours, wishing a speedy resolution.
Bruce
Hang in there. If I have learned nothing else from this website I’ve learned that patience is a virtue which will pay off in the end (trivia contest lesson). Also remember that frozen Reese Cups fix everything, while patience and frozen Reese Cups can move mountains.
Frozen Reese’s cup…mmmmm, sounds(drool)yummy.
A Dove chococalte bar! I thought, at first glance, that’s what this post was about…best wishes for a quick recovery for your hubby, and try a Dove, it just might help.
I didn’t disappear! You just posted after I’d already checked in for the day.
OK, now I’ll go enjoy some poetry. Thanks for the posts, Rosina!
If you want to hear some great Neruda, listen to the Il Postino Soundtrack. There are 18 tracks read by great actors (Miranda Richardson reads “Poetry,” but my favorite is Andy Garcia reading “Tonight I Can Write.”) It’s fantastic!
I hadn’t seen a lot of Pablo Neruda – indeed, any – until I found a couple of his in a $2 throwaway in Bookworld one day. He has such a way with imagery.
I love Neruda!
By a master: Pablo Neruda
Who is the translator?
Ter — you are absolutely right, the translator should get credit as well. It’s my fault; I didn’t make a notation about that when I first found the poem some years ago. I’ll see if I can dig it up.
Thanks for looking (no rush!) for the translator. I have a lot of Neruda, but I read him in side-by-side Spanish/English edtiions. Always looking for a new translator to re-experience the original.