By Gabriel Foster
I first picked up and bought my first copy of this book when I was a young man visiting one of the many Barnes and Nobles bookstore locations in New York city. From the moment I opened the book to sample a few poems, I was hooked by Mr. Neruda’s artistry. That love affair has continued to this day, with a sincere appreciation of his gifted writing.
The book is translated into English by Stephen Tapscott and contains both the original Spanish poems and the newer English translated versions. Every poem is indeed a sonnet, though they are not of the Shakespearean or Petrarchan styles that contain a rhyme scheme, the poems are still beautifully written.
Overall, I did enjoy all one hundred poems in the book, but I love some more than I do others. As you work your way through the book, favorites are quickly identified and noted for repeat readings. Here is a quick example of one of the early poems in the book:
I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.
I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.
I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,
and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.
Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet and politician (1904 – 1973). His works are very popular today worldwide and the poems in this book stand as one of his greatest achievements as a poet.
GF Poetic Wisdom | Romance isn’t dead, it sleeps like a fairytale until that one special kiss awakes the forbidden love from its long slumber. ~ Gabriel Foster
