9.4.24

Day 9 Global Poetry Writing Month

Today’s prompt could not have been more ideal and really motivated me creatively as I got to write in the style of one of my new-found favourite poets: Pablo Neruda, who I’ve been reading a lot lately.

The prompt: ‘Our prompt for today (optional, as always) takes its inspiration from Pablo Neruda, the Chilean-born poet and Nobel Prize Winner. While he is most famous in the English-speaking world for his collection Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, he also wrote more than two hundred odes, and had a penchant for writing sometimes-long poems of appreciation for very common or mundane things.

Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own ode celebrating an everyday object.’

As an extra challenge and to honour the subject matter (and Neruda!) I decided to write it first in Spanish and then in English. I started writing some poems recently in Spanish which I’m really enjoying as an exercise in expressing things in a new way; however, as it’s not my first language and I may be a little rusty at the moment please forgive any glaring errors!

After moving away from Spain this past autumn I really missed not being able to take advantage of the mandarin season! I’m pretty sure that the last two trips I took back to Spain were solely to eat mandarins - climbing was just an excuse.

Spanish version first, English version below

!

Oda a la Mandarina

El Otoño
llega con sus
colores y sus
sabores
al pueblo,
el
invierno a su
espalda roja.
Trae
las mandarinas
¡ay suerte!
el jugo
chorreante
que te besa
la cara
con dulzura.
Tiene
el lugar real
de los mercados.
Se calla
la gente
mirando
la belleza de
la piel
firme y fragrante
a punto de
explotar
con la alegría
dentro
de sí.
En las
vacaciones
de Navidad
están
regalos
tesoros
compartidos
entre nosotros.
Abrimos
con prisa
el corazón
fresca,
pulsando con
amor,
para aprovechar
su aroma,
su magia.
Que nunca
se termine
esta epoca
tan brilla
y potente,
que esté
el Otoño
el Invierno
para siempre,
¡ay
fruta querida!
quiero
esconderme
en tu
cuna
naranja.

---

Ode to the Mandarin

Autumn
comes
to the people
with its
colours and its
flavours,
the winter
behind its 
red back.
It brings
the mandarins
what luck!
The spouting
juice
that kisses
your face
with sweetness.
It holds
the royal place
of the markets.
So quiet
are the people
watching
the beauty of
its skin,
firm and fragrant,
about to explode
with the joy
held within
itself.
At Christmas time
they are gifts,
treasures we
share between us.
We open
hurriedly
that fresh heart
pulsing with love,
to take in
the scent,
the magic.
Oh that this
time,
so bright and potent,
never ends,
that it stays
autumn
winter
forever.
Oh dear fruit!
Let
me hide
in your
orange
cradle.