Scan barcode
A review by raeleenlemay
Then Come Back: The Lost Neruda Poems by Pablo Neruda, Forrest Gander
2.0
Read for Book Riot's 2017 Read Harder Challenge: #23 Read a collection of poetry in translation on a theme other than love
I'm no expert on poetry, and I really only read this because of the reading challenge I'm doing this year, but even so I found this to be quite dull. It just wasn't the sort of poetry I like at all, but the poetry I like is pretty limited so that's not all that surprising. I loved poem #18, but none of the others were really my cup of tea.
18
Comes back from his blaze, the fireman,
from his star the astronomer,
from his disastrous passion the obsessive,
from one million whatever the ambitious,
from the naval night the sailor,
the poet returns from his slabber,
the soldier from fear,
the fisherman from his wet heart,
the mother from Juanito's fever,
the thief from his nighttime high,
the engineer from his frosted rose,
the native from his hunger,
the judge from fatigue and unsureness,
the jealous from his torment,
the dancer from her exhausted feet,
the architect from the three thousandth floor,
the pharaoh from his tenth life,
the hooker form her Lycra and falsies,
the hero comes back from oblivion,
the poor from another day gone,
the surgeon from staring down death,
the fighter from his pathetic contract,
someone returns from geometry,
stepping back from his infinity, the explorer,
the cook from her dirty dishes,
the novelist from a web of lies,
the hunter stamps out the fire and returns,
the adulterer from rapture and despair,
the professor from a glass of wine,
the schemer from his backstabbing,
the gardener has shuttered his rose,
the bartender stoppers his liquor,
the convict takes up his plea again,
the butcher washed his hands,
the nun quit her prayers,
the miner his slick tunnel,
and like the rest I take off my clothes,
inside the night of all men, I make
a smaller night for myself,
my woman joins me, silence bears down
and the dream spins the world again.
I'm no expert on poetry, and I really only read this because of the reading challenge I'm doing this year, but even so I found this to be quite dull. It just wasn't the sort of poetry I like at all, but the poetry I like is pretty limited so that's not all that surprising. I loved poem #18, but none of the others were really my cup of tea.
18
Comes back from his blaze, the fireman,
from his star the astronomer,
from his disastrous passion the obsessive,
from one million whatever the ambitious,
from the naval night the sailor,
the poet returns from his slabber,
the soldier from fear,
the fisherman from his wet heart,
the mother from Juanito's fever,
the thief from his nighttime high,
the engineer from his frosted rose,
the native from his hunger,
the judge from fatigue and unsureness,
the jealous from his torment,
the dancer from her exhausted feet,
the architect from the three thousandth floor,
the pharaoh from his tenth life,
the hooker form her Lycra and falsies,
the hero comes back from oblivion,
the poor from another day gone,
the surgeon from staring down death,
the fighter from his pathetic contract,
someone returns from geometry,
stepping back from his infinity, the explorer,
the cook from her dirty dishes,
the novelist from a web of lies,
the hunter stamps out the fire and returns,
the adulterer from rapture and despair,
the professor from a glass of wine,
the schemer from his backstabbing,
the gardener has shuttered his rose,
the bartender stoppers his liquor,
the convict takes up his plea again,
the butcher washed his hands,
the nun quit her prayers,
the miner his slick tunnel,
and like the rest I take off my clothes,
inside the night of all men, I make
a smaller night for myself,
my woman joins me, silence bears down
and the dream spins the world again.