The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda

Poetry Month always brings to mind my favorite poet, Pablo Neruda, the 1971 Nobel Laureate in Literature, born in Chile in 1904 as Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. His first poem Entusiasmo y Perseverancia was published when he was only 13 years old. His first book, Crepusculario (Twilight), was self-published in 1923, at which time he took his current pen name Pablo Neruda, chosen as a tribute to 19th-century Czech poet & journalist Jan Neruda, whom he greatly admired.

Pablo Neruda's poetry proliferated over the course of his lifetime, even as he served as the Chilean Consul to Argentina, Spain & Mexico; subsequently as an elected member of the Chilean Senate and a communist; and ultimately as an enemy of the state, exiled for several years for outspoken opposition to President González Videla. In 1952, Neruda was allowed to return to Chile and live out his life as a citizen and diplomat, continuing to write until his death in 1973. He is widely considered a master of his craft, "the people's poet," and certainly one of the great Latin-American writers of all time.

Of his many works, one of the most fanciful and intriguing to me is a small book of verse that reads more like a game of riddles but without answers, The Book of Questions (Copper Canyon Press) which asks:

Is it true that in an anthill

dreams are a duty?

and

How did the abandoned bicycle

win its freedom?

and

Why so slowly in winter

and later with such a rapid shudder?

And while one is mystified by such queries, they force the mind to bend in a way that strengthens the intellectual muscle and stretches the poetic imagination, and that is why I highly recommend the exercise.

Patty M.