Pablo Neruda

I have only recently come across the work of Pablo Neruda, which saddens me. A work so vibrant and unusually original should come early in one's life, so as to be savoured through the years.

And what I find in Neruda's work is a sadness - a sadness that has an intensity that bends the language. It is not a despairing sadness, but a sweet sadness that all great poetry possesses.

I also find his poetry strangely apolitical (from what I have read, which is a small selection to be sure). This was a strange discovery, as his life was very political indeed, making his being awarded the Nobel a controversial choice.

But most of all I like where Neruda takes you. It is an elsewhere that is perhaps outside time and place, and is somewhere all poets would like to be.