Tag Archives: poetry

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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Lineation Meditation 1

Posted on December 17, 2020 by JMN

This gallery contains 1 photo.

… If a clodbe washed awayby the sea,Europeis the lessas well as ifa promontory were,as well as ifa manor of thy friendsor thine ownwere… In free verse, are line breaks the product of daemonic possession? Sovereign whim? Delphic insight into … Continue reading →

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Knots Bound XCVI

Posted on December 14, 2020 by JMN

[XCVI]Pienso, esta época en que tú me amasteI think this epoch in which you loved mese irá por otra azul sustituida,will go away, replaced by a blue one,será otra piel sobre los mismos huesos,it will be another skin on the … Continue reading →

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Knots Bound XCVII

Posted on December 7, 2020 by JMN

[XCXVII]Hay que volar en este tiempo, ¿a dónde?One must fly at this time, to where?Sin alas, sin avión, volar sin duda:With no wings, no airplane, fly without doubt:ya los pasos pasaron sin remedio,already the footsteps passed by irredeemably,no elevaron los … Continue reading →

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“That Was Now, This Is Then”

Posted on December 6, 2020 by JMN

The very title of Vijay Sheshadri’s volume of poems, reviewed by David Orr, has the jewel-beam of poetic crystal to it. I keep rolling it on my tongue, as if it makes some kind of sense of the moment. Orr’s … Continue reading →

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