Hello, my name is Katia, and I am another member of the Red Poppy crew. If I had an official title, it would be something akin to Public Relations Assistant; in other words, I am a professional blogger. Every day, I read blogs that mention Neruda and comment on them, analyzing translations, interpreting poems on the basis of my own experience, and telling people about Red Poppy. Although this is no easy task, it has allowed me to learn a great deal about Neruda and how he is perceived.

The best thing about blogging is the opportunity to read Neruda on a daily basis. Of course, most people blog about his most popular works, so I often end up reading certain poems, such as Sonnet 17 ("I don't love you as if you were a rose..."), at least three times a week. Yet poetry, or rather how we react to it, changes with every reading, so I often pick up on things that I missed, as it were, before. And Neruda's works are so replete with unusual images and associations that multiple readings are practically essential for understanding.

At the same time, when people post lesser known works, such as Towards the Splendid City, the speech that Neruda gave when he received the Nobel Prize, I get to see his incredible versatility. Here is a writer that "covered" everything from the Spanish Civil War to artichokes, from the history of America (the entire Western Hemisphere) to the vicissitudes of love.

The second best thing about blogging is reading people's reactions to Neruda's work. Regardless of what it is they cite, people always marvel at the truthfulness of the author's style and express a certain connection to his words. It is this credibility that gives Neruda's works their constant relevance. His words appeal to us not as intellectual feats of intricacy, but as descriptions of the real world, of our common world. The beauty of his figurative language stems not from its unique linguistic twists, but from the unique, twisted reality it thereby conveys. The reason why people read and write about Neruda every day is because he recreates and reveals that which we thought we knew.

I especially love reading the creations that Neruda has inspired, from personal translations of his works to new poems written in his style. Some of these are pretty mediocre; others are fantastic. What fascinates me is people's eagerness to do this. I know from experience that writing and translating are no easy feats; in fact, they often demand every ounce of your mind, soul, and heart. So why engulf oneself in words that will probably not get published anywhere outside of the blogosphere? Because, as Neruda states in Toward the Splendid City,

"When I am recounting in this speech something about past events, when reliving on this occasion a never-forgotten occurrence...it is because in the course of my life I have always found somewhere the necessary support, the formula which had been waiting for me not in order to be petrified in my words but in order to explain me to myself."

It seems that Neruda's works have done for others what he wanted them to do for him: to provide an opportunity for self-discovery.

Books by burro

Check out this New York Times article.

It's all about truly believing in the power literature, and doing all you can to realize it.

From Books, New President Found Voice

From The New York Times:

Barack Obama’s love of language and reading has helped him to communicate and shaped his sense of the world. Click here.

Welcome to Red Poppy's brand new blog!

We aim for this to be a forum on the power of the pen over the sword, using literature (especially poetry) to create progressive social change. That is the heart of Red Poppy's mission, as described in the header at the top of the blog. We encourage your comments on the posts to come, as we hope this virtual journal will spark active discussions, bringing in interesting insights from readers all over the world. In the coming months we will introduce more contributors to the blog, representing a wide spectrum of voices from leading poets, activists, students, and literature lovers at large.

Why "Pablo Neruda! Presente!"? Because the Chilean Nobel Laureate is our inspiration. Gabriel García Márquez called him “the greatest poet of the twentieth century—in any language.” But not only is his poetry so rich and moving, evocative and stirring, much of his work was aimed at raising the public's political conscience to the realities of the injustices facing not only his Latin America but the entire world.

As he once said, “From the Inca to the Indian, from the Aztec to the contemporary Mexican peasant, our homeland, Ameríca, has magnificent mountains, rivers, deserts and mines rich in minerals. Yet the inhabitants of this generous land live in great poverty. What then should be the poet’s duty?”

Neruda invented a new poetic voice, distinctively Americano, rooted in Latin America’s native cultures and untamed geography. From the first decades of the 20th Century, he wrestled poetry down from the rarified atmosphere of the salon and gave it to the people, a communal voice rooted in oral tradition, fired by raw passion and the struggle for justice. He is one of history’s greatest examples of a soul-rebel who used his pen as his sword in his constant fight for a better world.

At his political core was a populism based on his fundamental belief that the common man, the worker, the poor, deserved a seat at the table as much as anybody else:

…Let us sit down soon to eat
with all those who haven’t eaten;
let us spread great tablecloths,
put salt in the lakes of the world,
set up planetary bakeries,
tables with strawberries in snow,
and a plate like the moon itself
from which we can all eat.

For now I ask no more
than the justice of eating.


(The Great Tablecloth" from Estravagario, translated by Alastair Reid in Extravagaria. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975.)

Even as a teenager, Neruda felt the poet’s calling-- el deber del poeta: an obligation, a duty, a debt he owed to give voice to the people through his poetry. He promised a commitment to humanitarianism, using literature to enrich, empower and engage in the pursuit of progressive social change.

Red Poppy is currently creating the first (in any language) feature-length documentary on Neruda's life, poetry, and politics. In 2004 we rushed to have a rough cut ready for the 100th anniversary of his birth. It was a wonderful success, receiving positive reviews from Variety, The San Francisco Chronicle, and others. It was shown at numerous festivals around the world, cultural organizations, and campuses from UCLA to the Grand Rapids Community College (MI) to Yale. It won the 2004 Latin American Studies Association's Award of Merit in Film.

But despite the great reception it received, in our rush to have it finished in time for the Centennial, the film is like a diamond in the rough. We are now polishing it, under the new name "Pablo Neruda: The Poet's Calling." The new version is being directed by the Mexican filmmaker Carlos Bolado, an integral member of the nuevo cine mexicano generation. Carlos was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary of 2002 for "Promises," a film about Israeli and Palestinian children, which he directed and edited. His feature "Bajo California" won 7 Ariels, Mexico’s highest cinematic award, including Best Picture of 1999. Early on, he edited "Like Water for Chocolate," and later was an advising editor on "Amores Perros," starring Gael García Bernal. His next feature stars Alec Baldwin. Carlos brings the ideal passion, creativity, and expertise to make our film the lyrical, compelling, powerful, and important art for which we are striving.

But we also need your help to finish this important, powerful project. Red Poppy survives and grows due to the support of hundreds of members, and we hope you'll explore our site, www.redpoppy.net, and dig your hands into the fertile poetic garden we are cultivating. There you can also learn more about Neruda, the film, our other projects, and how you can help.

For now,
Paz, pan, flores y amor,
Mark Eisner, on behalf of the Red Poppy family.