Love poems in the Valentine spirit at the library
BY PETER FARRAR | CONTRIBUTOR
On February 19, the Shelter Island Public Library will present a romantic Friday Night Dialogue featuring a poetry reading, followed by the delightful Italian film, “Il Postino.”
The poetry presentation — favorite Pablo Neruda poems read by members of the Art Barnett Poetry Round-table — will start the evening off and allow a glimpse of the power of love through poetry, which is at the essence of the film.
Pablo Neruda (Chilean, 1904-1973) was a prolific poet and diplomat. The Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called Neruda “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.” Neruda, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971, was particularly well-known for his passionate and metaphorical love poems.
The film, set in 1950, begins after Neruda is exiled to a small island off of Italy for political reasons. Mario — Il Postino — is a simple postman who befriends Neruda and enlists his help to communicate his love for a beautiful local girl. The poet’s ideals on love, along with his political views, seriously alter Mario’s life, for better and for worse. What unfolds is a touching story of love and friendship woven together — not without life’s complications — on an idyllic island.
Join us on Friday, February 19 at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the library to continue the Valentine’s spirit of love and friendship.
Admission is free, donations gladly accepted.
Then, mark your calendar for February 26, when Bob DeStefano will challenge local trivia buffs to a Battle of the Brains. Put together a team of four and sign up at the library or just come to watch the fun!
But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.
Pablo Neruda
