Growing a Beard

- Poetry doesn’t belong to those who write it; it belongs to those who need it.

The other night I watched the movie Il Postino which is about a simple Italian man meeting the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Set in an Italian village and with a great soundtrack, it makes a great choice for any occasion. This is probably one of the best movies I’ve seen and one of the few ones that truly made me laugh.
Watching the extra material on the DVD we found out that the main actor Massimo Troisi, playing the part of the mailman Mario Ruoppolo, past away in a heart attack just 12 hours after finishing shooting the movie at the age of 41. Massimo was in a bad condition during the entire duration of the shooting according to the director Michael Radford, but had been postponing a crucial heart surgery to complete the film. He truly made an impression on me and I really look forward to see other movies with Mario, especially Non Ci Resta Che Piangere (Nothing Left to Do But Cry) with Roberto Benigni.

Hearing the poems of Pablo Neruda in the movie got me interested in to read more of his poetry. Two fun, but very important facts:
1) Neruda was cited in The Simpsons, episode “Bart Sells His Life”:
- Lisa: Hmm. Pablo Neruda said, “Laughter is the language of the soul.”
- Bart: I am familiar with the works of Pablo Neruda.
2) When Che Guevara was captured in Bolivia one of the few things in his possession was a book of poetry by Neruda.

Below is a poem by Neruda called ‘If You Forget Me’:

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
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