The forest knows. Neruda comes close to being able to put words to the ineffable. He is a bridge of tongues. I can only read this in English. I cannot imagine how amazing the Spanish must be. A poet is a priest of the invisible. Neruda is the space between.
Agree with Martin. A bridge of tongues, a priest of the invisible. Beautiful. Worthy praise from deep, bone deep attention and listening. Good on you. I can hear the leaves rustling in response.
Those leaves rustling on the wings of words broken loose on the wind. Thanks Peter and Martin! Poetry is what poetry does and Neruda ignites my soul, and breaks my heart wide open!
And that’s the definite gift of poetry. Everybody is trying to define the meaning of a poem. There is none. Poetry is what poetry does. Neruda is the best example of that. An ineffable revealing. I love how you put that- I just know! 🙏❤️
I have always loved Neruda. I think I've read everything by him that has been translated into English, including Memoirs. Even in his prose he wrote some dazzling lines.
Without doubt, 'the heights of macchu picchu'. In order to write something good, we need some marvellous poem to measure ourselves against. That is such a poem. Neruda, as you know, wrote in Spanish, so the best English translation is by Nathaniel Tarn.
Beautiful and scientifically urgent today. How we need to be awakened to shrinking natural beauty. This is an alarm clock. Thank you for sharing Neruda !
I could almost feel the humidity in the air and the spores upon the breeze. That spider staring back, oh I wonder if the poet covered him again in a way that would not harm it. A yeasty world of life and death and fecundity.
There are certain poets from whom you can learn nothing - Eliot is another - because they are so perfect they seem to live in another dimension. The most you can do is imitate. And that you can't do either. What *is* their secret? Is it because they are so much themselves they defy all comparison? In which case the only lesson we can learn from them is to become more and more like ourselves.
Thank you so much for sharing. I am just about to write a newsletter for Continuo Connect (a classical music newsletter) that will include a playlist all about the woods and how trees and forests have inspired composers and storytellers since time began. Neruda’s words are a timely reminder to never not be in awe by nature.
The forest knows. Neruda comes close to being able to put words to the ineffable. He is a bridge of tongues. I can only read this in English. I cannot imagine how amazing the Spanish must be. A poet is a priest of the invisible. Neruda is the space between.
Calling Neruda 'a bridge of tongues' is beautiful and just perfect for him.
Agree with Martin. A bridge of tongues, a priest of the invisible. Beautiful. Worthy praise from deep, bone deep attention and listening. Good on you. I can hear the leaves rustling in response.
Those leaves rustling on the wings of words broken loose on the wind. Thanks Peter and Martin! Poetry is what poetry does and Neruda ignites my soul, and breaks my heart wide open!
He ignites my soul also.
I don't even have to figure out what he is writing about, I just know.
And that’s the definite gift of poetry. Everybody is trying to define the meaning of a poem. There is none. Poetry is what poetry does. Neruda is the best example of that. An ineffable revealing. I love how you put that- I just know! 🙏❤️
I have always loved Neruda. I think I've read everything by him that has been translated into English, including Memoirs. Even in his prose he wrote some dazzling lines.
Neruda's work is truly captivating. What is your favorite poem or prose by him, and how has it influenced your own perspective or writing?
Without doubt, 'the heights of macchu picchu'. In order to write something good, we need some marvellous poem to measure ourselves against. That is such a poem. Neruda, as you know, wrote in Spanish, so the best English translation is by Nathaniel Tarn.
Thank you, Martin.
Just wonderful! To pull all that out. Is it nature that does it or the poet? Of course, it is both. Harmony at its very finest.
In Costa Rica right now. Perfect to wake up to these words.
Okay, new place added to Bucket List!
Quite beautiful. As Martin McCarthy said: dazzling.
"I have come out of that landscape, that mud, that silence, to roam, to go singing through the world."
This was a captivating piece. But of course it was. It was from Neruda.
yeah he comes from a land of ancient poets, the Mapuche. Their words in native mapuzungun and his spanish are shaped by the landscape like no other.
Beautiful and scientifically urgent today. How we need to be awakened to shrinking natural beauty. This is an alarm clock. Thank you for sharing Neruda !
Reading Neruda's Memoir was a major light in my life
I could almost feel the humidity in the air and the spores upon the breeze. That spider staring back, oh I wonder if the poet covered him again in a way that would not harm it. A yeasty world of life and death and fecundity.
How wonderful, even in English. I wish I could put into words like that my own deep experiences of earth and forest.
💚
There are certain poets from whom you can learn nothing - Eliot is another - because they are so perfect they seem to live in another dimension. The most you can do is imitate. And that you can't do either. What *is* their secret? Is it because they are so much themselves they defy all comparison? In which case the only lesson we can learn from them is to become more and more like ourselves.
Thank you so much for sharing. I am just about to write a newsletter for Continuo Connect (a classical music newsletter) that will include a playlist all about the woods and how trees and forests have inspired composers and storytellers since time began. Neruda’s words are a timely reminder to never not be in awe by nature.
Sublime