Monday, April 30, 2007

National Poetry Month

I should have gotten on this sooner, but April was National Poetry Month. The American Academy of Poets has been sending me a poem a day for the whole month, and many different activities have taken place around the country. The academy does not limit itself to American poets only, so all sorts of poems from many different eras have been honored. In honor of the occasion and also the weather, here is the first part (the whole thing is five pages long) of one of my favorite poems by Pablo Neruda:

Ode to Spring

Fearsome
spring,
zany
rose,
you will arrive
unnoticed -
here you come now -
the merest
flit of a wing, a kiss
of flower-scented mist.
Hats
can feel it,
and horses.
The wind
delivers a green letter
for all the tress to read
and the leaves
take
a first peek,
a fresh look at things.
They're sure:
everything is ready-
the ancient, uncontestable sun,
and talking water,
everything.

1 comment:

Tony said...

Ah, the words of Neruda, and one of his odes at that. I love these so much; his ode to socks and to tomatoes are two of my favorites. Drove me to write my own ode to a sofa back in college. No where near Neruda, but incredibly fun to write. If you're as big a Neruda fan as i am, check out http://www.redpoppy.net/pablo_neruda.php for a great new project on his work.