Abstract
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In the poem 'Ode to Pablo Neruda', published in her most recent collection of
poetry, over the rooft of the world (2005), Olive Senior finds herself 'drifting and
wordless', so far from the sea she cannot strike the right chord. The poet nanator
calls upon the spirit and word-craft of Pablo Neruda to help her re-discover the
lost measure that will move others:
So I tum to find again something you said
about grasping poetry like a thread?
Here it is:
You must spin it
fly a thread
and climb it ...
This isn't a matter
for deliberation
its an order.
('Ode to Pablo Neruda' 92)