Literary Review

The Literary Review
An International Journal of Contemporary Writing
Summer 2003, Vol. 46, No. 4

The journal is made up of poems, short fiction stories, reviews on books and authors among other entries. What was most interesting about this journal was the fact that many of the poems especially are translated. The beginning poetry is translated from Spanish and Dutch while the poems in the back of the book were translated from Chinese and Italian. I found it really wonderful that a book could bring authors and critics from all over the globe and print their work in one book. I mostly connected to the short stories, I thought the writing was brilliant. However, the poem that stuck with me was a poem entitled The Potter by Pablo Neruda, which was translated from Spanish.

Your Whole body holds
a stemmed glass or gentle sweetness destined for me.

When I let my hand climb,
in each place I find a dove
that was looking for me, as if
my love, they had made you of clay
for my very own potter's hands.

Your knees, your breasts,
your waist,
are missing in me, like in the hollow
of a thirsting earth
where they relinquished
a form,
and together
we are complete like one single river,
like one single grain of sand.

I found it interesting that Neruda chose to capitalize the word 'Whole' in the first stanza. It seemed like a shape like of a vase made by a potter. I also found it interesting that the title only plays on the last line in the second stanza 'my very own potter's hands'. Even though the poem is not about him being a potter or even of this woman's body being molded or shaped, the poet chose to name this poem from one sentence of this poem. I thought it was a really beautiful title, as well as a beautiful description. As a woman, it would make me feel beautiful to know that my body was a vessel for love for someone else. Pottery is a very intimate craft as well. You use your hands and your mind to create something beautiful from a lump of clay. I like that the poet is making that reference to this woman of his affection. I also enjoyed the last and longest stanza of the poem with the poet and the woman melting and molding into one. He chose to state that them together was like 'one single river, like one single grain of sand' and I thought that was very beautiful. A river and sand are a part of nature, created by God and these two people are one in the same, created by God. It's just a very powerful ending to a beautiful poem.

The Literary Review is published quarterly since 1957 by Fairleigh Dickinson University. Manuscripts are read from September through May. Submissions cannot be returned without SASE.