WEBVTT

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One of the things
Neruda does so well

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is moving from between the
beloved, and the landscape,

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and Chile.

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They merge into each
other in that poem,

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And in a way that Alison
would appreciate and--

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so I'll start.

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This is-- OK--

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this is a poem that's obviously
influenced by Whitman.

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When Neruda is born, there's
already a translation--

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a partial translation-- of
Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

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And José Martí was the one
who really promoted Whitman

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at first, in Latin America.

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He heard Whitman, Martí,
give a talk on Lincoln,

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and later wrote in 1887, an
homage to Whitman that Neruda

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knew.

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And the most influential
translation of Whitman's Leaves

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of Grass was published in
1912, when Neruda was 8.

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By the time he writes
this poem, there's

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a complete translation
of Leaves of Grass.

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I looked at Nerdua's private
library, which was a thrill.

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And there were at
least 20 copies--

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different variations--
of Whitman's books there.

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"Don't be vain, someone
had scrawled on my wall.

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I don't recognize the
script, or hand, of whoever

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left that line in the kitchen.

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No one I invited, clearly.

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He came in from the roof.

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So who am I supposed to answer?

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The wind.

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Listen to me wind--

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for many years, the vainest
have tossed in my face

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their own empty vanities.

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That is, they show me
the door I open at night,

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the book I write, the bed
that waits to receive me,

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the house I build.

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That is, maliciously
they make signs

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with their fingers entwined,
their viny fingers,

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and all their self-love
they dump in my face.

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They call me the
things they are.

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They bark at me their secrets.

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Maybe I'm vain.

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I'm also vain.

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Not about my poetry,
I don't think.

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Well, let's take a look.

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All my life it's
coursed through my body,

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like my own blood, which
I decode onto this paper.

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Sometimes I have work to do.

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They call me and I don't come.

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I'm given to write
lines I don't read.

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I'm given to sing for
someone who one day I'll

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never even meet.

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It's true-- I get
letters that tell me,

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your words brought back my
love, they saved my life,

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they reached me in prison.

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[LAUGHS]

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And I think that this
circulating blood,

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invisible blood inside me, runs
through other veins from now

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on.

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But as soon as it leaves me,
I've forgotten my poetry.

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There's no serious vanity in my
forgetting, or in my creating.

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Nor in my shoes, in my
ancient beat-up shoes,

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bearing my vagrant feet.

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Every five years I get
myself a new suit my.

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Wilted ties don't exactly gloat.

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Now, if at some time when
my people are in danger,

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I check to see if our
flag is still flying,

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I race up the bell towers,
forgetting my poetry--

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the froth spitting
wave-- forgetting

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the flower on the road.

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I've done nothing
more than others.

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Maybe less than anyone."

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