Today (Thursday) marks the birth (in 1904) of Pablo Neruda and the passing, two years ago, of the much-missed Tuli Kupferberg – two heroes and revolutionaries
What do we think of Neruda’s death? – Here’s a recent piece on Al Jazeeera.
What do we think of Tuli’s life? – an exemplary one. To quote the New York Times, he was
“a poet and singer who went from being a noted Beat to becoming, in his words, “the world’s oldest rock star” (sic!)
(not to mention, cartoonist, anthologist, publisher, pacifist, and trenchant social commentator).
Here’s him in 1971 (darkly satirical) in Dusan Makavejev’s W.R. Mysteries of the Organism
“Kill For Peace”?
Here’s him in the ’80’s on John Fisk’s “Digressions,” WBAI New York City late-night radio
More video – heaps more video – courtesy the tulifuli channel and the redoubtable Thelma Blitz (thank you, Thelma)
Neruda – here’s Neruda reading from Veinte Poemas de Amor y Una Cancion Desesperada
(Twenty Love Poems And A Song of Despair)
Here’s more Neruda-reading-Neruda
Here’s his (Neruda’s) 1971 Nobel Prize lecture (in English translation). Here’s his Paris Review interview (also in English) from that very same year
and (contemporaneous too) this revealing, priceless, Spanish-language interview (apologies for the quality of the tape but, from 40 years ago, we can’t really be complaining!)
Tuli and Pablo – Pablo and Tuli – We salute you both. La lucha sigue. The struggle continues