Today is the anniversary of the birth of one of the 20th century's greatest poets, Pablo Neruda. Here is a statement of purpose:
Ars Magnetica
From so much loving and journeying, books emerge.
And if they don't contain kisses and landscapes,
if they don't contain a man with his hands full,
if they don't contain a woman in every drop,
hunger, desire, anger, roads,
they are no use as a shield or a bell:
they have no eyes, and won't be able to open them,
they have the dead sound of precepts.
I loved the entangling of genitals,
and out of blood and love I carved my poems.
In hard earth I brought a rose to flower,
fought over by fire and dew.
That's how I could keep on singing.Pablo Neruda
translated by Alastair Reid
From Isla Negra: A Notebook
still singing
the insect drifts away...
floating branch
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue
best,
Don
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