Monday, July 12th would have been Pablo Neruda's 100th birthday. I encountered Neruda at a very dark time in my life. His work gave me faith that I was loved and capable of loving at a time when those postulates were not within my grasp. Simply,he helped me get my life back......

To introduce yourself to him I strongly suggest the movie Il Postino. The movie tells of his realtionship with a simple Italian postman. It was nominated for academy award for best picture of the year in 1995 . The sound track includes beautiful readings of his work buy several well known actors.

I think Neruda gives us a window to his life process in the following quote:

"The poet is not a "little god". No, he is not a "little god". He is not picked out by a mystical destiny in preference to those who follow other crafts and professions. I have often maintained that the best poet is he who prepares our daily bread: the nearest baker who does not imagine himself to be a god. He does his majestic and unpretentious work of kneading the dough, consigning it to the oven, baking it in golden colors and handing us our daily bread as a duty of fellowship. "

The principal characteristic of Pablo Neruda?s poetry is his insistence that the logic of the Self is the same as the logic of the universe.

Reid Alstair says about Neruda, ?he had legions of friends. Only some of them were human beings; the others were plants, animals, trees, landscapes, objects of all description, and houses. Neruda appeared to live on terms of intimacy with the world of things, and to carry on secret conversations with all kinds of beings, animate and inanimate, conversations that often became poems?

I have selected a few pieces off the Internet and encourage you explore .....

Three Poems
More Poems
More Poems

A Bio and more
Another Admirer