Book review: 'Neruda's Memoirs' by Maureen E Doallas

“Every good-bye is a provocation, an invitation to witness an ending and claim it aloud.” ― Maureen E. Doallas, “Neruda’s Memoirs”

Percy Bysshe Shelley was right when he said that, “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.” Despite our constant attempts to silence them, the truth of their words keeps shattering the boundaries of our limited understanding. Poets teach us invaluable lessons on pain, loss and recovery; as such, they affect society more deeply than any other artists ever would. Excellent examples are Elizabeth Bishop’s masterpiece, “One Art” and the novice book of Maureen E. Doallas.

“Neruda’s Memoirs” is more than a simple collection of poems. It is a study of the complexity of the human experience and an account of the healing, transformative role pure poetry has always played. Each piece is a masterfully crafted message in which words create resonating imagery and evoke tactile overtones.  

Numerals on a forearm
do not shift with time
the way memory
unhinges with a drag
in the story’s telling ― “Pictures of Patience”

I will write peace on your wings

and you will fly all over the world.

 

 

I will fold one thousand cranes 

and pay watchful waiting forward. ― “The Art of Japanese Paper Folding”