Robert Beltran

Selected Readings of Latino Poetry

This is from a live recording of a poetry reading by Robert at the MOLAA in Long Beach.

If you can't hear Robert's recitation of Pablo Neruda's poem after loading of the page is complete, please click here.

Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973)

"POETRY"

And it was at that age... poetry arrived
in search of me. I don't know, I don't know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don't know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.

I did not know what to say, my mouth
had no way
with names
my eyes were blind,
and something started in my soul,
fever or forgotten wings,
and I made my own way,
deciphering
that fire
and I wrote the first faint line,
faint, without substance, pure
nonsense,
pure wisdom
of someone who knows nothing,
and suddenly I saw
the heavens
unfastened
and open,
planets,
palpitating plantations,
shadow perforated,
riddled
with arrows, fire and flowers,
the winding night, the universe.

And I, infinitesmal being,
drunk with the great starry
void,
likeness, image of
mystery,
I felt myself a pure part
of the abyss,
I wheeled with the stars,
my heart broke loose on the wind.

Approximately 25 minutes of a live recording of a poetry reading by Robert. The CD features poems by Luiz G. Urbina, Ramon Lopez Velarde, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, Nicanor Parra and Judith Ortiz Coffer. There is a total of 14 poems on the CD. The recording was digitally captured directly from the sound system (not through the air) so the quality is crisp and clear.

The CD can be purchased at the ORB

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