It’s National Poetry Month at the library!
In celebration there is a display in the lobby of the Sherrod Library with an interesting collage of different poets.
Poetry uses imagery in imaginative ways and looks at the world with our original eyes, so we thought poets as organic fusion (you’ll have to see for yourself) would be apt.
Probably today’s best known contemporary poet is Pablo Neruda from the country of Chile.
Neruda is how poets must have been a long time ago; famous, important, and of the people rather than elitist.
Have you see the movie Il Postino? It is based on Neruda while he was in exile in Italy.
Neruda’s poetry was stark, elemental and romantic. It reminds you of the power of great literature to be fun and meaningful at the same time.
Like many Latin American intellectuals, Neruda saw the beauty he perceived in literature as very real, and attempted to bring those values to everyday people in this life.
Naturally, Neruda became involved in politics. He served as the Chilean ambassador to France. Neruda was associated with the populist politics of Salvador Allende.
Salvador Allende, the democratically elected president of Chile, was murdered by the Chilean armed forces with the assistance of the CIA.
There is another literary connection here, as novelist Isabel Allende is Salvador’s niece.
Neruda died in 1973 but his poetry is becoming more and more famous in the English-speaking world. Although he wrote in Spanish, Neruda’s poetry is available in English and reads just as well.
Come discover this great poet at the library!

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