Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair

by Pablo Neruda

Poetry isn't my thing, at least not yet. Maybe I haven't fallen in love with it because I haven't met the right poet, I dunno, but as much as I'd like to say I'm into the genre, I'm not.

I do like some of the love poems by Pablo Neruda, though. While many of them are too abstract for me to understand, some are toned down to my level and I can get it on the first read. Most of this book, almost all of it, really, I had to read each poem twice, sometimes more. Every single time I read them the second time, I got it more… felt it more… so I think that’s a good sign.

The last few in this very short volume, however, as well as that “song of despair”, were excellent. I was able to enjoy them straight away and, since I'm now finally dating someone after years of my own despair, I'll be reading them outloud to her. Bonus points if I can do it in Neruda's original Spanish.