Responding to Neruda's Book of Questions 17, and: Responding to Neruda's Book of Questions 18, and: Dunethin Rock, Maroochydore
Rent from DeepDyve- Responding to Neruda's Book of Questions 17, and: Responding to Neruda's Book of Questions 18, and: Dunethin Rock, Maroochydore
Responding to Neruda's Book of Questions 17
1
"Have you realized that autumnis like a yellow cow"the sun doesn't discriminatebetween bovine creatures and pastoral seasonsshines on all, just the same
a white ox disappears in winter snow
snowballs roll through the skygathering rime:all the animals beg for more
2
in autumn people chew the fat off their livesleaving honed bone & snow on bare treesyellow cows stand silently in the slaughter yardtheir blue throats exposed to winterhoping for the transparent monarchy of Spring [End Page 150]
Responding to Neruda's Book of Questions 18
grape clusters
those who hang togetherhave a common purposepick the one who knowshow to mature a succulent raisin
grapes crushed by trampling feetwere an oblation to the party lineunderwrote its sugareach knows its stemis fed by the vine's propaganda
ripeness of raisins and wineis as elusive as the revolutionary moment
picking is harder for the reluctantphilanthropist
Dunethin Rock, Maroochydore
white birds perch on the writhing silence of the river
they surround the rock but hide their dark spoons
their long knotted legs seem to stretchdeep into the mud wings and necksembrace the water's oscillating rind [End Page 151]
a flight and a roostfor Dunethin's enigma
quiet heaviness breaks from the forestspills into butterflies and birdsfrom bald rootsmagnetic recollections
we walk where paperbarks and mangroves minglewatch a fish slide through the limpid surfaceplop backto water's shadows and slow tides
we are reluctant to leave the seamswhere life has been placed [End Page 152]
Roger Callen studied geology and anthropology in Adelaide and worked in the deserts of central Australia as geologist and archaeological assistant. He now lives in the Sunshine Coast District, Queensland, writes mainly poems and produces artworks on paper. His poems are published in Famous Reporter, Polestar, and Cordite. He recently won the Bauhinia Literary Awards Open Poetry Section.
Footnotes
Note: The quotation is from Pablo Neruda's El libro de las preguntas, translated by William O'Daly and published by Copper Canyon Press (Port Townsend WA) in2001.
