The World Poetry Movement calls on all its members, poets and organizations, to conduct a worldwide poetic event on October 30th, with simultaneous poetry readings, lectures, films and talks in as many cities as possible on Earth.
Now, more than ever, life leads us to appreciate and celebrate the life and work of the great Pablo Neruda. His poetry is emblematic of the American telluric. His journey through the world, loaded with history in a conjectural and traumatic time, was the journey of a full human being, conscious of the great problems of a century that suffered the deployment of two world wars and countless indignities caused by the abuse of local authorities in the Americas and the third world in general.
His union and love for the oppressed population of the earth and his solidarity with the victims of genocide in the Spanish Civil War in 1936, make him unforgettable in the memory of mankind, an example of commitment to life, love and poetry.
The humanity of the poet Pablo Neruda was the testimony of a dream in action, of an active utopia that did not rest a single day of his public and private life, he was at the forefront, defending life through thedignified, universal voice of his poetry, always changing, always moving and attentive to the vicissitudes of everyday life.
As founding poet of Latin American contemporary poetic expressions, his poetry spoke of all essential human affairs and embraced the revelations of nature and the elementsthrough song. Hisconsciousas a free man is a conscious thatconfronts the world, bringing into question all that is merely immediate orextremely fantasist in the face of the grim reality of injustice and insults against those who always raised their voice with dignity, with an aesthetic that permeated deep into the universal human soul and for whom the Latin American consciousness of life and reality was enriched and nourished with lucidity and grandeur.
Pablo Neruda is anacting sign of human utopia,sower of spirits in the struggle for a world free of the oppression and inequality instilled by savage capitalism. His life and work have inspired generations of poets, dreamers and revolutionaries who work daily for a change in favor of social justice, against exclusion and colonialism.
Author of an extensive and varied collection of works, he reached very important achievementsin poetic expression with key works such as “Residencia en la tierra”, “Canto general” and “Estravagario” in which he renews questions regarding the origin and purpose of man, the trivialization that spawns that which is superficial and ephemeral, the final outcome of the struggle between the desire for justice and the weight of what issinister and annihilating, which beats in the shameful and unequal struggle between the powers of the world and those who suffer theirinfuriating and devastating rigor.
The work of Pablo Neruda is a fundamental part of the contribution made by a constellation of Latin Americans, founders of a lucid mind, which struggles for the emancipation of human beings in a time beset by the crises of capitalism and its chain of humiliations and affronts.
With Pablo Neruda we learned that the poet is an essential part of human life. With his poetry millions of people have qualified their sensitivity, culture and spirit. He was a poet who drastically steered away from art for the sake of art and his contact with the humanity of the people turned him into a real man who nurtured the growth of awareness and trust in the profound transformations towards a world reconciled with life.
Born in Parral, Chile, in 1904, he witnessed both the glories and the shames of the 20th century. The best of his legacy is alive and his attitude against fascism is a gesture that endures amongst people who are on life’s side. The great infamy of fascism and falangismreallyaffectedhim and so hemade a deep and vital commitment to all causes in favor of life and social justice. The events of the Spanish Civil War sparked the poet’s social and political commitment giving his poetry a special direction, which is confirmed by his book, published in 1937, Spain in our hearts. Hymn to the glories of the people at war (España en el corazón.Himno a lasglorias del pueblo en Guerra). This book is the result of his new commitment, made clear by a very controversial article that he published in the Green Horse magazine for poetry (Caballoverdepara la poesía), which he headed at the time, entitled On poetry without purity(Sobreunapoesía sin pureza) where the poet questioned "pure poetry" (proposed by Paul Valéry), which assumes poetic expression only as aesthetic pleasure (art for the sake of art) and he made a statement of political oath, ratifying his commitment to impure poetry, a poetry committed to reality, with social issues. As he stated: " A poetry impure as the clothing we wear, or our bodies, soup-stained, soiled with our shameful behavior, our wrinkles and vigils and dreams, observations and prophecies, declarations of loathing and love, idylls and beasts, the shocks of encounter, political loyalties, denial and doubts, affirmations and taxes."
The last two verses of his poem Spain in our hearts say:
“You will ask: why does your poetry
not speak to us of sleep, of the leaves,
of the great volcanoes of your native land?
Come and see the blood in the streets,
come and see
the blood in the streets,
come and see the blood
in the streets!”
At the height of his fame and recognition there were also bitter hours. In 1973, on September 11, he was surprised by the military coup against President Salvador Allende. Deeply affected by the new situation, he could not resist the tragedy and died on September 23 in Santiago de Chile. The world soon learned, in the midst of indignation, impotence and stupor, that his houses in Valparaiso and Santiago had been brutally looted and destroyed.
So, there is a telluric Neruda, one of love, one that sings to all that exists and a Nerudathat undertakes poetry with political and social commitment. This poet, who touches everything with his talent, making it memorable and worthy, is the poet that we celebrate today.
To celebrate the memory of Pablo Neruda is to celebrate spiritual, humanistic and poetic acquisitionsthat have consolidated the adventure of a new being to the horizon of afateful time.
To celebrate the memory of Pablo Neruda is to remember that the poet takes off the mask of the esthete and is committed to a violatedhumanity.
This is an invitation so that on October 30 everyone in the world mayvindicate the poetry and humanity of an essential poet.