Tag Archives: poetry

Au Revoir, Dr. Ferlinghetti

Posted on February 24, 2021 by JMN

“In some ways what I really did was mind the store,” he told The Guardian in 2006. “When I arrived in San Francisco in 1951 I was wearing a beret. If anything I was the last of the bohemians rather … Continue reading →

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Neruda XC

Posted on February 23, 2021 by JMN

[XC]Pensé morir, sentí de cerca el frío,I thought I would die, felt up close the cold,y de cuanto viví, sólo a ti te dejaba:and of all the life I’d lived, only you was I leaving:tu boca eran mi día y … Continue reading →

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Neruda XCI

Posted on February 11, 2021 by JMN

[XCI]La edad nos cubre como la llovizna,Age covers us like drizzle,interminable y árido es el tiempo,interminable and arid is time,una pluma de sal toca tu rostro,a feather of salt touches your face,una gotera carcomió mi traje:a falling drop etched away … Continue reading →

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Neruda XCII

Posted on February 2, 2021 by JMN

[XCII]Amor mío, si muero y tú no mueres,My love, if I die and you don’t die,no demos al dolor más territorio:let us not give grief more territory:amor mío, si mueres y no muero,my love, if you die and I don’t … Continue reading →

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Neruda XVII: Queue Jumper

Posted on January 26, 2021 by JMN

Robin Williams performs (I use the word advisedly) Pablo Neruda’s sonnet XVII in a scene from Williams’s movie “Patch Adams” (www.pocketfulofpoesy.com). “Patch” recites the poem at the grave of his dead girlfriend. I recoil at the acting out of poetry. … Continue reading →

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Words of a Stabbing Victim

Posted on January 18, 2021 by JMN

On Sept. 20, 1958, while signing copies of his first book “Stride Toward Freedom” in a Harlem department store, Dr. Martin Luther King was stabbed in the chest by a young woman. The weapon, a letter opener, grazed his aorta. … Continue reading →

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Failure and Exultation

Posted on January 17, 2021 by JMN

“Almost all poetry is a failure,” Charles Bukowski is said to have contended, “because it sounds like somebody saying, Look, I have written a poem.” … Never will I allude to the English Language or tongue without exultation. This is … Continue reading →

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Neruda XCIII

Posted on January 9, 2021 by JMN

[XCIII]Si alguna vez tu pecho se detiene,If there comes a time when your heart stops,si algo deja de andar ardiendo por tus venas,if something warm and ardent ceases plying your veins,si tu voz en tu boca se va sin ser … Continue reading →

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Neruda XCIV

Posted on December 29, 2020 by JMN

[XCIV]Si muero, sobrevíveme con tanta fuerza puraIf I die, survive me with so much pure forceque despiertes la furia del pálido y del frío,that you awake the fury of the pallid and the cold,de sur a sur levanta tus ojos … Continue reading →

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Neruda XCV

Posted on December 20, 2020 by JMN

[XCV]¿Quiénes se amaron como nosotros? BusquemosWho else has loved like us? Let us seeklas antiguas cenizas del corazón quemadothe ancient ashes of the burnt hearty allí que caigan uno por uno nuestros besosand there let our kisses fall one by … Continue reading →

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