Questions for Pablo
- Questions for Pablo
I
How can we stop the war we declare with our silence?
When crickets pack their bags, for which planet do they depart?
Speaking with one another are we able to waken the earth?
In the afterlife, do we count coupons, collect stamps, or maybe just relax?
II
Is this beginning a death or a birth?
Why, in winter, does the scarecrow sweat?
Where does it reside, the poem not written?
Is it a corral of lies or a single fig?
III
Where can we go inside ourselves?
Does the rose greet you with its mouth full of blood?
Do you fear what you love, unlikely sea, conflicted star? [End Page 57]
Was it a smile or a wound that devoured you?
IV
How can we stop the silence we with our war declare?
Why are the things meant to be never as they seem?
When the wind blows, does it fill your sails?
Why, and why not?
V
In the red temple of dung, to whom do the swallows pray?
Why do gourds rattle in the summer garden?
This afternoon, who hammers the distances into shape?
Heart of our hearts, who are you, who am I? [End Page 58]
William O’Daly is a poet, translator, fiction writer, and editor. His many publications, in addition to those available in magazines, journals, and anthologies, include eight books of translation of Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda and a chapbook of poems. A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, O’Daly was a finalist for the 2006 Quill Award in Poetry. With coauthor Han-ping Chin, he recently completed a historical novel, This Earthly Life, selected as a finalist in Narrative magazine’s 2009 Fall Story Contest.
