What Poetry Moved You?

[sally bogna mathay]

for len munoz wherever you are now

 

that i have loved only you,*

surrendered my whole self reckless to you and nobobody else

that i want you to love me back and show it to me

that i love the way you hold me, how close you let me be to you

i like your fingers on and on, lifting, turning

i have watched you face for a long time now,

and missed your eyes when you went away from me

talking to you and hearing you answer -- that's the kick

 

from toni morrison's jazz

[sally bogna mathay]

Just want to share something from "Musicians and hustlers: Tales from a Pinoy expat in Bangkok"

 

At 19, Puray was already a woman... a real woman. Her limbs had stretched to their limit, and every man who could get tangled in it could be forced to admit: that there was that slight smell of innocence still lingering, whispering to be taken. And yet on top of this, there was the emerging odor that would leave every man shaken. Puray was an Ilongga, from the region where the women are of a different breed. Many of them brought up to fulfill a husband's need. Puray's skin was light with a glow of amber. This, her lovers will remember. She had black hair that ran below her shoulder, smooth and not destroyed by shampoo, that goo of a substance that is as worthless as a five centavo coin which probably is not in circulation anymore, and which is blown by the wind easily. Her breasts, when viewed from the side at that sliver of a space between the door and the hinge, jutted like the lower quarter of a banana, something to fantasize about endlessly...

[bods1000]

today July 12 marks the centenary of one of the great poets of the century - Pablo Neruda. Edited July 11, 2004 by bods1000

[a_ngel]

In a tribute to Pablo Neruda

one of the greatest Poets that ever lived.

 

CLENCHED SOUL

 

We have lost even this twilight.

No one saw us this evening hand in hand

while the blue night dropped on the world.

 

I have seen from my window

the fiesta of sunset in the distant mountain tops.

 

Sometimes a piece of sun

burned like a coin in my hand.

 

I remembered you with my soul clenched

in that sadness of mine that you know.

 

Where were you then?

Who else was there?

Saying what?

Why will the whole of love come on me suddenly

when I am sad and feel you are far away?

 

The book fell that always closed at twilight

and my blue sweater rolled like a hurt dog at my feet.

 

Always, always you recede through the evenings

toward the twilight erasing statues.

Edited July 13, 2004 by b_r_o_k_e

[bods1000]

hello b_r_o_k_e

 

As in one of his poems -Love is short, forgetting so long - Neruda's poems on love will live on forever....

[Magaling]

In a tribute to Pablo Neruda

one of the greatest Poets that ever lived.

Neruda! Neruda! Here's my Tagalog version of one of my most favorite Neruda poems:

 

 

Maari kong isulat ang pinakamalulungkot na tula ngayong gabi

 

Isulat, halimbawa, na “Ang gabi’y sumasambulat’at

nanginginig, asulin ang mga bituin sa malayo

Ang hangi’y umiikot sa langit at awit

 

Maari kong isulat ang pinakamalulungkot na tula ngayong gabi

Minahal ko siya’t minsa’y inibig niya rin ako

 

Sa mga gabing tulad nito’y niyakap ko siya sa aking bisig

Hinangkan'g paulit-ulit sa ilalim ng walang hanggang langit

 

Minahal niya ako’t minsa’y inibig ko rin siya

Paanong di iibigin kanyang mga matang nakatitig

 

Maari kong isulat ang pinakamalulungkot na tula ngayong gabi

Isiping siya’y di na sa’kin. Dam’hing siya’y ala sa'king piling

 

Din’gin ang gabing malawak, lumawak pa sa kanyang pag-ulila

At talata’y pumatak sa’king pagkatao gaya ng hamog sa bukid

 

Ano ba kung pag-ibig ko’y di sapat na siya’y panatiliin

Ang gabi’y sumambulat na’t siya’y wala sa’king tabi

 

Ito na’ng lahat. Sa malayo’y may umaawit. Sa malayo

Pagkatao ko’y di matanggap na siya’y wala na

 

Pananaw ay naghahanap tila siya’y gustong samahan

Hinahanap ng puso ko, ngunit siya’y wala sa aking piling

 

Yaon ring gabi’ng umaaninag sa yaon ring mga puno

Kami, mula sa yaong panahon, ay di na tulad nang dati

 

Di ko na siya mahal, iya’y tiyak, ngunit paano ko siyang inibig

Hangi’y hinanap nyaring tinig upang abutin kanyang pandinig

 

Sa iba. Siya’y mapapasa-iba. Tulad nyaong aking mga halik

Kanyang boses, maputing katawan. Mga matang nakatitig

 

Di ko na siya mahal, iya’y tiyak, ngunit maaring siya’y mahal ko pa

Pag-iibiga’y maikli, pag-limot ay anong tagal

 

Pagkat sa mga gabing tulad nito niyakap ko siya sa aking bisig

Pagkatao ko’y di matanggap na siya’y wala na

 

Ito ma’y huling pasakit sa’kin na kanyang idudulot

At sa kanya ito’y huling mga talatang aking isusulat

 

 

(Translated directly from the original Spanish. Note: some Spanish idioms don't translate very well. This is the limitation even with the English versions that I've seen)

Edited October 4, 2004 by Magaling

[a_ngel]

Hello Bods,

 

ika nga "the only thing that matters is love and the only thing that surpasses chocolates and songs of love are poems on love and Neruda has mastered the art of emotion, unveiling awe-inspiring work of art that nourishes not only the heart but so as the soul.

 

Magaling

I am moved by your translation. Kudos to you for a job well done. Twothumbs up.

 

Ang isang magandang likha

ay mas lalo mong madarama

kapag binigkas sayong sariling dila.

 

:cool:

 

Kung iyo sanang mamarapatin nais ko sanang ibahagi ang iyong pagsasawika ng tulang ito sa iba. Maari po ba?

[Magaling]

Magaling

I am moved by your translation. Kudos to you for a job well done. Twothumbs up.

 

Ang isang magandang likha

ay mas lalo mong madarama

kapag binigkas sayong sariling dila.

 

:cool:

 

Kung iyo sanang mamarapatin nais ko sanang ibahagi ang iyong pagsasawika ng tulang ito sa iba. Maari po ba?

No problemo. BTW, if you like Neruda, then you should also check out others like Sylvia Plath and Erica Jong.

[bods1000]

Hello Bods,

 

ika nga "the only thing that matters is love and the only thing that surpasses chocolates and songs of love are poems on love and Neruda has mastered the art of emotion, unveiling awe-inspiring work of art that nourishes not only the heart but so as the soul.

well, not only Neruda, not only poets, but anybody who has fallen in love has that subliminal poetry in the heart

[a_ngel]

well, not only Neruda, not only poets, but anybody who has fallen in love has that subliminal poetry in the heart

yup a heart filled with love is indeed inspired to use the pen,

ironically so is the heart hurt by love.

[bods1000]

yup a heart filled with love is indeed inspired to use the pen,

ironically so is the heart hurt by love.

a heart filled with love is inspired to use a pen, but a heart hurt by love has despaired to use the pen - ganun ba yun?

 

cheers na lang!

 

a heart awash by hurt could be engulfed in drink

[a_ngel]

a heart filled with love is inspired to use a pen, but a heart hurt by love has despaired to use the pen - ganun ba yun?

 

cheers na lang!

 

a heart awash by hurt could be engulfed in drink

:cool:

 

sad part is after drinking your left with a broken heart and a nasty hang-over.

 

para ndi naman magalit ang peeps here, here's a poem 'bout love

 

Love is contagious

Catch a falling star and have a dream come true,

Let that falling star pass by and plunge into the blue,

They say love is contagious,

An illness felt so pure,

But if you give it long enough,

The body finds a cure,

Now when I catch sight of you,

When your perfume fills the breeze,

Gone the paralysing ache,

That brought me to my knees,

I no longer feel light-headed,

My heart keeps a steady beat,

I no longer feel that tingling,

From my head down to my feet,

Maybe I still want you,

Maybe once you wanted me,

Maybe we’re the hard luck tale,

That wasn’t meant to be,

How can love that feels so good,

Be so bad for your health?

Catch a falling star tonight,

And find out for yourself.

~Gordon Spark~

[sally bogna mathay]

a heart filled with love is inspired to use a pen, but a heart hurt by love has despaired to use the pen - ganun ba yun?

 

cheers na lang!

 

a heart awash by hurt could be engulfed in drink

bods, andito ka rin pala! didn't know you were a rocker...and poet too!

[sally bogna mathay]

to the women of mtc, here's a portion of from walt whitman's a woman waits for me

 

Yet all were lacking, if sex were lacking, or if the moisture of the right man were lacking.

 

Sex contains all,

Bodies, Souls, meanings, proofs, purities, delicacies, results, promulgations,

Songs, commands, health, pride, the maternal mystery, the seminal milk;

All hopes, benefactions, bestowals,

All the passions, loves, beauties, delights of the earth,

All the governments, judges, gods, follow’d persons of the earth,

These are contained in sex, as parts of itself, and justifications of itself.

 

Without shame the man I like knows and avows the deliciousness of his sex,

Without shame the woman I like knows and avows hers.

 

Now I will dismiss myself from impassive women,

I will go stay with her who waits for me, and with those women that are warm-blooded and sufficient for me;

I see that they understand me, and do not deny me;

I see that they are worthy of me—I will be the robust husband of those women.

[a_ngel]

Rain

-Shel Silverstein-

 

I opened my eyes

And looked up at the rain,

And it dripped in my head

And flowed into my brain,

And all that I hear as I lie in my bed

Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

 

I step very softly,

I walk very slow,

I can't do a handstand--

I might overflow,

So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--

I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.