^^ Neruda has many great poems, this one happens to be my favorite. His book of love sonnets is pretty amazing. Sonnet form isn't the easiest to write in and it's all been translated from Spanish. Imagine what is lost in translation. Neruda was pretty loved and famous. He's Chilean, supported communism, and served as a diplomat. There is a movie about him which I happen to enjoy:
Il Postino.
And I'm a woman. And I'm afraid I've revealed myself to be a huge poetry nerd
This poem is a little dark and menacing. I like a strong last line. I found it in
Best New Poets 2011.
Jennifer Luebbers
Recess
Spring, and a man took a girl to the woods by the schoolyard.
Police hovered in helicopters; they hemmed the trees in tape.
The recess monitor circled with a bronze bell, its rusty clapper
a tongue to warn. The jump rope was a thick braid touched
to the pavement, and a choir of mouths sang
Cinderella, dressed in yella, Went downtown to meet a fella.
How I wanted to be the girl gone missing. How I wanted the world
to watch. I thought to go to the woods in white,
weave a chain of daisies for my throat, a garland
of dandelion to stain my hands, a crown of pollen to seed
my hair. To tie my wrists with ropes
to a tree. To wait for the police, the priest, the teacher, my father--
any dangerous man who might come to save. Who among them
would unbind my wrists?
Who among them would bear the knife?