Neruda wrote lovingly and hauntingly about his home. I picked lines from quite a few of his poems in Absence and Presence and tried to find house connections.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Stone, nails, planks, tiles, all.
I built the house
of cement, iron, glass.
In my house, I have gathered together
curtains,
useless
objects,
bread, wine, stew,
hyacinths,
the curve of shoes,
spectacles,
brooms,
time.
I may move in and out of windows.
I seem to be alone and not alone.
Here, I shall be both lost and found.
This is simple and lovely - Neruda was so good at praising the ordinary with his langauge.
ReplyDeleteSo gorgeous - and with that same paradoxical feeling of absence and presence. LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteI love the weight of the final couplet.
ReplyDeleteThis might be the best cento I've read yet. I like the simplicity of it.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant what you've used as the last line!
ReplyDeleteSimple and beautiful! I really loved reading it.
ReplyDeletePamela
I enjoyed your lovely poems,excellently written :)
ReplyDeleteAnd from lines about his home, you've constructed the image of a home that is so full of things yet absence of people and presence. It reminds me of how I used to feel living in one of my old apartments. Nicely done.
ReplyDelete-Nicole