Tag Archives: poetry

Travesía del Ferry Brooklyn

Posted on March 2, 2021 by JMN

Versión castellana del poema “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (1856) de Walt Whitman. Texto inglés — http://www.poetryfoundation.org. Years ago, Pepe Portillo, a classmate at the University of Barcelona, loaned me a volume of Dylan Thomas’s poetry translated into Spanish — or “Castellano” … Continue reading →

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Neruda LXXXIX

Posted on February 28, 2021 by JMN

[LXXXIX]Cuando yo muera quiero tus manos en mis ojos:When I die I want your hands in my eyes:quiero la luz y el trigo de tus manos amadasI want the light and the wheat of your dear handspasar una vez más … Continue reading →

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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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