Summer Flowers, 1911
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912)
Oil on canvas

No More Clichés
by Octavio Paz (1914 – 1998)

Beautiful face
That like a daisy opens its petals to the sun
So do you
Open your face to me as I turn the page.

Enchanting smile
Any man would be under your spell,
Oh, beauty of a magazine.

How many poems have been written to you?
How many Dantes have written to you, Beatrice?
To your obsessive illusion
To you manufacture fantasy.

But today I won’t make one more Cliché
And write this poem to you.
No, no more clichés.

This poem is dedicated to those women
Whose beauty is in their charm,
In their intelligence,
In their character,
Not on their fabricated looks.

This poem is to you women,
That like a Shahrazade wake up
Everyday with a new story to tell,
A story that sings for change
That hopes for battles:
Battles for the love of the united flesh
Battles for passions aroused by a new day
Battle for the neglected rights
Or just battles to survive one more night.

Yes, to you women in a world of pain
To you, bright star in this ever-spending universe
To you, fighter of a thousand-and-one fights
To you, friend of my heart.

From now on, my head won’t look down to a magazine
Rather, it will contemplate the night
And its bright stars,
And so, no more clichés.

Hello, and welcome back to Poetry Wednesday 3/18/09. You can sign in today and take the tour thru Thursday, so take your time.

I’ll be your hostess again this week. My sister, Sans Souci, is on a break, putting together her own poetry book, but she will check in.  

Before we get started, please make sure that your post has a link to get back to this page to make it easier to take the tour:

1) Copy and paste the following link that I have provided for you from this page to somewhere on your poetry post.

back to the Poetry Wednesday tour on Laurita’s page

2) Leave the link of your poetry post in the comments section below. This is the link guests will click on to read your poem (see my post below as an example).

Octavio Paz was born in Mexico City in 1914 to a family of Spanish and native Mexican descent. He was educated at the National University of Mexico in law and literature, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Under the encouragement ofPablo Neruda, Paz began his poetic career in his teens by founding an avant-garde literary magazine, Barandal, and publishing his first book of poems, Luna silvestre (1933).

In his youth, Paz spent time in the United States and Spain, where he was influenced by the modernist and surrealist movements. His sequence of prose poems, Aguila o sol? (Eagle or Sun?, 1951) is a visionary mapping of Mexico, its past, present, and future, and Piedra de Sol (Sun Stone, 1957) borrows its structure from the Aztec calendar. This long poem, and Paz’s sociocultural analysis of Mexico, El laberinto de la soledad (The Labyrinth of Solitude, 1950), established him as a major literary figure in the 1950s. In 1962, he became Mexico’s ambassador to India and resigned six years later in protest when government forces massacred student demonstrators in Mexico City.

His later work shows an ever-deepening intelligence and complexity as it investigates the intersection of philosophy, religion, art, politics, and the role of the individual. “Wouldn’t it be better to turn life into poetry rather than to make poetry from life,” Paz asks. “And cannot poetry have as its primary objective, rather than the creation of poems, the creation of poetic moments?”

 On his father’s side, his grandfather was a prominent liberal intellectual and one of the first authors to write a novel with an expressly Indian theme. Thanks to his grandfather’s extensive library, Paz came into early contact with literature. Like his grandfather, his father was also an active political journalist who, together with other progressive intellectuals, joined the agrarian uprisings led by Emiliano Zapata.
In 1980, he was named honorary doctor at Harvard. Recent prizes include the Cervantes award in 1981 – the most important award in the Spanish-speaking world – and the prestigious American Neustadt Prize in 1982.

“Solitude is the profoundest fact of the human condition. Man is the only being who knows he is alone.”

“Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two.”

“Deserve your dream.”

~ Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz’s birthplace in Mexico City.

What a great place to start the tour !

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Mar 16, ’09 Here is the most famous poem by Octavio Paz: http://lauritasita.multiply.com/journal/item/1223/Poetry_Wednesday_031809_Piedra_de_Sol_Sunstone

deletereply skeezicks1957 wrote on Mar 16, ’09 Another beautiful hostess page!  It is indeed more important to concentrate on our accomplishments rather than the outside package. http://skeezicks1957.multiply.com/journal/item/664/Poetry_Wednesday_031809

deletereply starfishred wrote on Mar 16, ’09 http://starfishred.multiply.com/journal/item/1198/POETRY_WEDNESDAY_ HERE IS MINE yours is so lovely

deletereply billatplay wrote on Mar 16, ’09 http://billatplay.multiply.com/journal/item/136/Bed_Room_D.I.Y. All I have to offer is a strong bed. lol

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Mar 16, ’09 Bill, you’re so funny ! LOL!

deletereply billatplay wrote on Mar 16, ’09 Yours is beautiful but brought to me a thought of horror. Supposing humans were like these creatures who self produce? We would have to do our own housework. lol Had to write this here, can’t find another page foe it.

deletereply forgetmenot525 wrote on Mar 16, ’09 Hi Laurita, been missing this so much just had to come over and join you again this week http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/272/Poetry_Wednesday_To_A_Mouse_Burns Love that painting and what a great poem to start the tour. Interesting background info too. Didn’t know anything about this chap before reading so thanks for the education. Back later to take the tour.

deletereply papahere wrote on Mar 16, ’09 Do you wish you were 18 again ?…visit and share the nostalgic feelings of George Burns singing the lyrics of this song in a way he can only express. http://papahere.multiply.com/journal/item/338/I_WISH_I_WAS_EIGHTEEN_AGAIN

deletereply sanssouciblogs wrote on Mar 16, ’09 This is a fabulous sign in page, Sis! I can feel the Neruda influence on Paz. So descriptive and romantic, so pro-women, so inspiring. Let’s raise a glass to this wonderful poet and to you!

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Mar 16, ’09 Wow, that wine looks good !

deletereply gileson wrote on Mar 16, ’09 A Little Sad http://gileson.multiply.com/journal/item/469/If_you_are_depressed

deletereply gilesy01 wrote on Mar 18, ’09 Spring has sprung. http://gilesy01.multiply.com/journal/item/572/Poetry_Wednesday_To_Daffodils

deletereply dianahopeless wrote on Mar 18, ’09 I have missed Poetry Wednesday for awhile too. Thought I would join in and cheer myself up. http://dianahopeless.multiply.com/journal/item/551/Poetry_Wednesday_Adieu

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Mar 18, ’09 Thanks for coming, Diana. You’ve come to the right place.

deletereply sassyangelac wrote on Mar 18, ’09 http://sassyangelac.multiply.com/journal/item/439/Poetry_Wednesday–Little_Boy_Books

deletereply sugarpiehuny wrote on Mar 18, ’09 http://sugarpiehuny.multiply.com/journal/item/148/The_First_Kiss_of_Love Sorry I was late…

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Mar 19, ’09 You’re not too late, Sug, thanks for coming !

deletereply sugarpiehuny wrote on Mar 19, ’09 I had to come back today and read your page.. I was in a hurry last night to post.. The poem above is lovely.  I can relate to the many battles won and lost.. Thanks for a lovely page…

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Mar 20, ’09 Thanks for participating this week !

deletereply forgetmenot525 wrote on Mar 22, ’09 thanks Laurita……………….finaly got around to the tour and throughly enjoyed it  🙂