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Dominique Side's avatar

I went to Isla Negra on the coast of Chile where Pablo Neruda lived for a while. The Pacific Ocean crashes into the land there with full force, waves explode so loud that all the thoughts and names in my mind scattered and i could hear the silence behind the sea. Neruda's poem reminds me of that, that experience is what he is talking about. no thoughts and words, just pure energy.

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Thomas Molitor's avatar

that's a lovely coast / I drove north along the

coast and stayed in Pisco Elqui (at the start

of the Atacama Desert). Did you get north at all?

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Dominique Side's avatar

Sadly not further north than Valparaiso

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Debbie Liu's avatar

going to the house at Isla Negra where Pablo Neruda lived, I recall it being difficult to find, getting local buses through the beach side suburbs, but i asked the locals, and everyone knew where Pablo Neruda, one of the world's greatest poets, lived. It was magical, special, wonderful to be there. I still recall the house and the ocean to this day.

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Thomas Molitor's avatar

"When I lived amongst the roots

they pleased me more than flowers did [...]"

a praise of underground poetry.

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Miller Henry Grace's avatar

Powerful, humans do give names,

Names so vast are ours,

But not the land, human depend.

Living with borders, with walls

With undue agitation, depend,

Name, names, places relent,

Powerful lives, oh depend

Dividing humanity, name names,

Depend, Depend, time we spend

Spend means investing in what?

Names names for that, depend

Living life well spent...

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Michael Cord's avatar

the clock is a fiction, the unconscious is timeless

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LeeAnn Pickrell's avatar

I love Neruda. All of his poetry. This perfectly captures the day I've had.

"Mondays are meshed with Tuesdays

and the whole week with the whole year."

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Ken Paul Rosenthal's avatar

This poem's essential themes of non-identity, non-attachment, and interconnectedness is most welcomed in these fragmented times. I wonder if Pablo had an interest in Buddhism...

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laure heinz's avatar

Simply a beauty filled humbling poem from a poet who was not a singular isolated being. His roots spread to the far reaches of the universe and beyond. Thank you for posting this poem.

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Dian Parker's avatar

I love Neruda. A Portuguese country once recited Neruda poems to me by the sea. Unforgettable. The pulsing Life, crashing, erasing….the passion! Thanks so much for this.

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Poetry Symposium's avatar

…until all light in the world

has the oneness of the ocean -

Wonderful ✍️

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Leon Brown, Jr.'s avatar

Absolutely love it!

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Joshua Bond's avatar

Words without labels & labelling and smallifying via categorising ... and yet still conveying impactful meaning ... a hard task to achieve ... but this poem comes pretty close.

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Cranmer, Charles's avatar

Thank you for this. What a wonderful surprise1

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Libby Boyea Mai's avatar

Se enreda el lunes con el martes

y la semana con el año:

no se puede cortar el tiempo

con tus tijeras fatigadas,

y todos los nombres del día

los borra el agua de la noche.

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Steve Fifield's avatar

Love this ❤️

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Martin Mc Carthy's avatar

Neruda is one of the greatest poets of all time. To read him is to fall in love with the magic of language itself - a language intended for everybody - and his translator does justice to the maestro.

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Dustin's avatar

WOO! This is sooo good and beautiful! Very thought-provoking, too!

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