pablo neruda and nude celebrities
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I cannot sleep again last night. And like some nights when my thoughts refuse to be pacified, I turned to Pablo Neruda and his poetry.
Neruda was a Chilean poet whose work gravitated towards the symbolist movement and later, leaned closer to surrealism. But whatever label one might feel compelled to use in describing his work, it is undeniable that a single theme threads through the fabric that was his words: his own private passions. From politics, to eroticism, to love, to simple odes to beauty, Neruda's verses always ignite fire or bring on the rain, calm the soul or set it free to soar.
But while Neruda's poetry is generally regarded as palatable to say at the very least, the same cannot be said of nude photography for it is one art form that, well, straddles the fine line that divides art and wannabe art - The Real McCoy from the Talented Mr Ripley. But I digress. This is not about what makes nude photography an art form (truth be told, I'm not in any way an expert on the subject). But what this is about are a poem by Neruda and some images that I think provide an interesting accompaniment to the words he wove and pieced together in that poem. Although I have been honest in saying that I wouldn't know the first law of the land as far as nude photography is concerned, I think the names of the photographers/artists who conjured the images below more than validate their work's artistic merits.
Lastly, I dedicate this sort-of-diptych to franciaonline who is willing to share her pillow with Neruda and me.
A word of caution: You read the title and I'm sure you have at least an incling that the images below might not conform to the dicta of taste that you subscribe to.
.
Ode to a Naked Beauty
.
.
With chaste heart, and pure
eyes
I celebrate you, my beauty,
restraining my blood
so that the line
surges and follows
your contour,
and you bed yourself in my verse,
as in woodland, or wave-spume:
earth's perfume,
sea's music.
.
.
Nakedly beautiful,
whether it is your feet, arching
at a primal touch
of sound or breeze,
or your ears,
tiny spiral shells
from the splendour of America's oceans.
Your breasts also,
of equal fullness, overflowing
with the living light
and, yes,
winged
your eyelids of silken corn
that disclose
or enclose
the deep twin landscapes of your eyes.
.
.
The line of your back
separating you
falls away into paler regions
then surges
to the smooth hemispheres
of an apple,
and goes splitting
your loveliness
into two pillars
of burnt gold, pure alabaster,
to be lost in the twin clusters of your feet,
from which, once more, lifts and takes fire
the double tree of your symmetry:
flower of fire, open circle of candles,
swollen fruit raised
over the meeting of earth and ocean.
.
.
Your body - from what substances
agate, quartz, ears of wheat,
did it flow, was it gathered,
rising like bread
in the warmth,
and signalling hills
silvered,
valleys of a single petal, sweetnesses
of velvet depth,
until the pure, fine, form of woman
thickened
and rested there?
.
.
It is not so much light that falls
over the world
extended by your body
its suffocating snow,
as brightness, pouring itself out of you,
as if you were
burning inside.
.
.
Under your skin the moon is alive.
.
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The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems (Bilingual Edition) (English and Spanish Edition)
Price: $10.08
List Price: $16.95 |
|
Memoirs
Pablo Neruda
Price: $6.38
List Price: $17.00 |
|
On the Blue Shore of Silence: Poems of the Sea (English and Spanish Edition)
Price: $14.61
List Price: $26.95 |
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I don't know why Pablo Neruda annoys me. He just does. The pictures were gorgeous (well--all except for Sylvester, below). Your writing here is witty and sharp.
Beautifully written and went well with the wonderful pictures. I am with Teresa not into the Stallone picture. The Kinski picture really takes me back, my brother had it on his wall.
Cris what a delicious way to start my day. I think you matched the photography and poems wonderfully. Neruda has a new fan, and I am inspired. I especially loved this description of eyes,
"winged
your eyelids of silken corn
that disclose
or enclose
the deep twin landscapes of your eyes."
p.s. I love your new avatar, you are one naughty angel.
Absolutely wonderful, loved the hub and the pictures. Must read more Neruda!
I agree with Gypsy -- good stuff! And the Sly pic is funny.
Also preety cool that you're holding that 100 score. Good for you! Now, don't be gettin' all full of yourself and shit ...
PS: The pink frames-effect is pretty cool, too. How'd you do that?
Pete
I think the pictures would flow with anything! The words were almost incidental! LOL
Teresa
Would you put Neruda in the same league as Cliff Richard? LOL Okay Sly is gone. You can look now! :D
TM
Thanks for dropping by. OKay, that's two votes against Sly. He got the boot!
RB
Glad to have made your day start on the right foot. You go writing your ode now!Yeah, my avatar is the antidote to Artisan Walker's goody goody angerl! LOL
Gypsy Willow
Thanks, glad you like this little homage to the poet and some muses!
AW
LOL So I guess I need not shamelessly put a link to this hub on one of yours! Must be the title, should be!
The 100 score has been going for (ahem) more than a week now. I'm used to it! :D
Pick a picture of a frame, put the other pic atop it. Duh! :D
I didn't know you could superimpose one pic over another here.
Great hub! Neruda is one of the great Latin American poets. I used to practice my Spanish pronunciation and intonation by reading his poems aloud. Years ago I translated his greatest love poem, Poema XX, to English. Great selection of photographs also.
utterly utterly speechless, Kate Moss' spine looks sore...
Classy, Cris - absolutely classy! I think you've just elevated Pablo Neruda's poetry to something quite ethereal. My favourite of course is Richard Avedon's one of Nasttasja Kinski - I guess it just was an icon of my time :)
AW
Oh no, I use photoshop for "merging" pics. Sorry I didn't get what you mean the first time:D
Ralph
Wow! That's truly amazing you must already be an expert on his poetry! Thanks for sharing the info. And I'm glad yo like this :D
Brenda
Come back later when you can speek! LOL Sore? I think it's just the angle :D
Shalini
I did that to Neruda's poetry?!?!?! Wow! Thanks Shalini, you always know what I want to hear! Yes, Kinski's image is truly unforgettable.
Thanks for dropping by...I'm off to gloat!
Shhhh Cris don't call AW an angel, he thinks he looks like a phoenix. *wink*
RB
He does?! WTF! LOL I hope you have nothing to do with it! :D
Beatuiful, Cris!!! I love Neruda!! And, the pics...breath-taking!!!
Ah the man sportin' the '100' button desends to converse with the rest of us.. This was beautiful.. but I'm curious, why did you put Scarlet amd Kiera's heads on me and Janetta's bodies? We have our own lovely heads.. but maybe you wanted to protect our anonymity? Thank you for that! Hugs "hub-nephew"!
You deff have the poetry nailed my friend, in the words of Carly Simon " Nobody does it Better "
Neruda's an awesome poet. His favorite of mine is "Tonight I Can Write." You always come up with really unique concepts. I'm one more for poetry than pictures, but your pairing of pictures and poetry definitely complimented one another. Nicely done!
I have meant to get acquainted with Neruda's work for a long time. Coincidentally I put a book of his work, "I Explain Some Things", on hold at my local bookstore. It has the Spanish and English side by side. Thanks, Cris, for publishing this showcase of his work. It feels like fate.
Oh, there were pictures? Right now I have a picture in my mind beside which all others dim.
AMB
It's my pleasure to take your breath away once in a while. I know I have little thing to do with the pics but I did put them together, right?
Candie
Sorry but I had to. I thought you might want to remain anonymous like you said. Maybe next time. Hub-nephew? So you're my hub-aunt? LOL
BC
Thanks my friend, I knew the womenfolk here would inspire you.
Benji
Ahh I thought the title of this hub would seduce you out of your sort of lethargic mode of late. I love that poem, too. Come to think I like everything he wrote! LOL Glad you can come by for this one! :D
Tom
Go back to that bookstore and take that book home. You need not read everythiong at once anyway. You'll like him. Yeah, fate does crazy little things like fate! LOL
Yes there were. Ah but I see you have your muse with you :D
Chris,
again, you reference one of the greatest persons/writers of the 20th century, Pablo Neruda. You have done a marvelous job with your Hub. His writings represent, peace, love and social justice. Wonderful choice. Fantastic.
ps. oh my gawd on the new avatar.
Sandy
yeah, funny we seem to like the same things and/or people! Ha! Yeah, Neruda's one of my gods! He's definitely up there somewhere! Glad you came by my dear friend.
Like the avatar? Thanks! The chainsmoking angel :D
Chris,
I promise, it is totally coincidental! I am kinda out of the loop here as of lately, but I always read from my favorites. Got to have something to go on other than my 'Critical Issues' classes. I do admit the avatar is pretty wicked.
Sandy
I hate to burst your bubble but I think we're kindred! Ha! We're mentally conjoined my friend and you can't fight fate! :D
I like wicked! Yeah... I do...sounds so me! LOL
PS what happened to our "project"?
Congrats on the 1000 posts Cris - the 100 hubscore you've had a lot of!! :D
Nice avatar!
Shalini
Should I announce those um achievements on Twitter?! LOL Thanks my friend :D
You like it? Seems I made a good choice :D
Cris what can I say man ? Nicely done .
Thanks Tony! I hope this hub makes for a good night's sleep :D
I dig this, Cris! I always have a copy of "20 poems of love an a song of despair" close at hand. I don't know what makes some nudes look and feel like works of art (and others make one go BOOH), but you sure managed to enhance the artistic look and feel of all of these extraordinarily famous shots!
Chris,
you know, I was thinking about that. In fact, I am still reworking it. I have to admit, I am not all about love being cherished and passionate anymore. I am angry with love and I decided to turn those two lovers (whom as you may well know, I spied on in the hub 'Foreplay' http://hubpages.com/hub/foreplay ). And give them a tragic ending! I just cannot come out of the darkness just yet. I wanted to surprise you with it. I just cannot be true to myself if I gave them a happy ending...
so don't be mad at me. I will be sending you the updates soon.
-psst- I thought you forgot :D and kindred spirits...now that my friend, is an enigma in itself! Thanks Chris.
Elena
I somehwere there lies the difference between sexual and sensual. Context is all I think. Glad everythin came out tasteful. Thanks for dropping by :D
Sandy
Oh no pressure. Just thought I'd ask. Whatever you choose to do with it is fine be. Okay, so surprise me then!
I like enigmas, they add mystery to life! :D
Can't say that I 'got' this - the poetry here just didn't turn my pages -"you bed yourself in my verse " - ugh !
"But" I thought, "this is Cris - there is nothing so far that he has written or recommended that I haven't had a completely positive reaction to ....." so I popped over to your friend francionline via the link that you provided and learned more about Neruda. I love the poem to his dog that died ...
I guess that your hub is for people who already know Neruda or people who want to look at naked women. Well, I didn't even know Neruda"s name - now I do and have enjoyed being introduced to him by fanciaonline and shall read more of his work, whether ot not I"ll be a fan remains to be seen.
The photos - well, I'll be willing to bet that Neruda's women had curves and did not have pouty little faces.
My little inner jury is out - and all in all it's a thumbs up for this hub - you've introduced me to a new poet, you've provided me with an opportunity to write more than just a few words which feebly try to express stunned silence at the quality of your own poetry and you introduced me to franciaonline.
Iphi
Thanks for the honesty - that was a mouthful! LOL I guess everything is not for everybody and that includes Neruda's poetry. That said, I'm glad to note it's still a thumb's up for this hub.
As for the celebrities - they sell! LOL :D
Hi Cris,
Thanks for this work of art! Definitely, I feel extremely honored and pleased with your dedication! Of course you know very well that I love Neruda! And you love him too, don't you?
I had very little time to leave comments on the hubs that I read the past week due to pressures of work but I can't leave your page now without leaving a thought.
Hey france
Ah the pleasure is mine as I definitely love your Neruda hub, and yes, the man.
That's too bad. But knowing you've been around my hubs is good enough for me. But do take the time out to get some fresh air - all work and no play makes .... :D
did you ever see the film "Educating Rita"... I feel a bit like her today......
I have read some of his poems...... I did like them, but they seemed very deep....... as if he was talking much more than you read in the written word at face value, I liked his style, will go back and read more, and introduce myself to some more poets, recomended on the site...... should improve my work. So I did come back and I did have something to say,,,,, strange the different time thing isn't it...... 8 hours different wow
I first got here as I was looking up Hubbers for my new Hub and I saw the word naked under your name, so totally distracted from my mission I came here to find all this magic, all this beauty,this is divinity and heaven, the pics and the words, I am spellbound.........how am I ever going to go back to the humdrum of what I was just doing ...
"Under your skin the moon is alive". Love it... you did a great job here, but as I expected nothing less from you...Thanks sweetie...G-Ma :O) Hugs and Love
Very Nice work Cris.......but why were there no words???? sometimes I just don't understand your thoughtlessness...leaving out words.
Brenda
Yes I saw the movie and I think I know what you mean.
Sometimes I read poetry on face value, I do not squeeze my brains to deliver the meaning. Until it comes to me.
Yeah the timezones sometimes give me vertigo just thinking about it. And to think we look at the same sky :D
BP
I know you're one to be enchanted by beautiful words and beautiful images for it is your nature. That said, I hope you eventually touch ground and start on a hub :D
G-Ma
Thanks, I'm glad you like this. Your validation is always appreciated :D
R.
I really don't know what you mean by that but I'll second guess. I chose not to interfere in the interplay between Neruda's words and the images. My "silence" is not an option.
No...I mean.....I DIDN'T SEE ANY WORDS!!!
Huwhat?! Now that's weird. You're the only who apparently didn't see anything written. Hmmm... I have no idea why's that. Still can't see anything?
Oh I did you gave me inspiration to continue on....as tough as it was I got to the finish line. I tried not to look and read again just now, oh yes I am a lover of beauty, in all senses, and I just had to read and look again. Honest Cris your words were even more beautiful than the images, and the images were heavenly, so receive that compliment.....is your hat extending off your wee head now.....I reckon you would be one bloke I would go shopping with, you got the style, ROFL
Oh so you published a hub? I'd check it out. Thanks for the kind words - they should keep me going :D
Oh I looked and looked and looked for Sly...but you made him do the vanishing trick...
I always liked Pablo, but I think from now on, I will never be able to read his poetry without seeing these pix in some corner of my mind.
diana
Sly had left the building, er, the hub! Apparently he distracted from the overall theme of the whole proceeding LOL But I can send the pic through email if you want :D
I hope that's a good thing :D
Well, if I'm Velvet (tom's sister) and you're tom's nephew, I think that makes you my nephew? Unless this is, um, you know, a different society.. then you could be my brother by different fathers?
Candie
Right! Tom's family tree! We are virtually related indeed! :D
I wasn't familiar with Neruda(well, I'm not familiar with poetry...but I'm learning) but I liked this very much. I have always loved the picture of "Nasty Kinski," and the Vanity Fair picture of Keira and Scarlett. A soothing read.
Hey Chris
Maybe you start dabbling in poetry too. You do have a way with words.
LOL "Nasty Kinski" indeed! Glad they umm soothed you (I was thinking the opposite of "soothe" but hey, how should i know, right?) :D
Will this make me sleep tonight? Good question...reckon, the answer I will know soon enough. Nighty night...:-)
Well I hope the words of the poet lull you to sleep! LOL Gnight :D
Good morning! :-) Happy to report it did. I loved the photos too actually. Very artistically done... :D
Good morning to you too, teacher. Glad to hear that you did sleep well. :D
pablo neruda has a way with words. this is a nice tribute for women.. and their contours? he he
true that! the least I can do. thanks for dropping by :D
Very enjoyable Cris. Like Diana, I was also looking for Sly. Needs more nude men here - perhaps a self photo? ;)
I did not see any words but I loved the photographs. Beautiful! Especially Stephanie and Scarlett. Hot!
Aya
Glad you enjoyed this. Sly got the boot as he apparently didn't belong here, maybe in another hub? A self-photo you say? That could be arranged! LOL
James
Funny that. You're the second person to have found the words missing. Hmmmm... Anyway glad you dropped by :D
I have been interested in Pablo's poems for quite some time. Cool idea with the pictures. You seemed to put them in all of the right places. As usual great hub! :)
PM
I did try to sort of merge the images with the verses. Glad you like this. Thanks :D
Cris, my inspiration has found focus. Check your mail.
Okay :D
Really, the posture in these photoes is artistic. I didn't get sexy feeling at all, on seeing these.Quoted poetry is also fine
prasadjain
That's nice to know as I think the photos here were never meant to titillate. Thanks for dropping by :D
Thanks for the offer Cris dear, but I think I will pass...Have seen enough of Sly on tv.
And oh yes, that is a good thing.YOur pix are wonderful compositions.
Okay, but the offer still stands.. just in case there's a change in the weather! LOL
Thanks :D
Like prasadjain, I didn't find the photos to be 'sexy' in the connotation I would normally use. They are beautiful, and in a way make me sad for how we (especially in the 'states) seem to have lost sight of beauty, trading it in for manufactured glossiness. Sans heavy makeup, airbrushing, and figure-shaping fashions these iconic women look downright ...real. And I love it.
The Neruda does compliment everything nicely as well. Never read much, always meant to. Seems like the kind of thing I'll crave when I'm in the mood for and shun when I'm not. I have a few addictions that are like that. :)
Thanks for this lovely hub!
RooBee
At least we are not convinced by the glossiness to think and feel otherwise.
You should read more of Neruda or any poetry when you have the time. They calm the soul.
Glad you like this. Thanks for dropping by :D
I always loved that picture of Demi
yes, and it was quite a breakthrough in its time despite the controversies it generated. Thanks for dropping by :D
nice pictures
glad you liked it. thanks for dropping a line :D
Did you do the translations? Because they're wonderful - some translations of Neruda don't feel right, but these do.
Up to Beauty in all its guises - words and form and breath - thank you for this lovely hub
hi mega
No did not do the translations. Which reminds me, I should have cited the source. Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting. Glad you liked this :D
Pete Maida says:
7 months ago
The words flowed with the pictures. Frankly I'm surprised I saw the words at all.