In 2015, newly retired from my 20 years of teaching English to Japanese kindergarten
children, I spent a lot of time listening to podcasts on my husband’s hand-me-down
iPad. Never one to sit to watch from the boob tube, preferring radio instead, I fell in
love with the experience that opened a whole ‘nother world to me.

As fate would have it, it was in one of my podcasts that I first heard about NaPoWriMo,
internet writing competitions, WordPress, audiobooks, and the idea of opening a social
media account. Of course, I didn’t do any of that right away, it took a bit of getting used to such ideas, but the more I listened, the more I came to think that perhaps someone
like me could do something with the new knowledge that excited my soul and spelled
sweet nothings in my ear.

But that’s not what this post is about. The reason for the mention is that in one of
the first podcasts, I first heard the story entitled, My Life With The Wave by
the 1990 recipient of the Nobel Prize, Octavio Paz. I believe it was Audible dot com– a
podcast for stories in the public domain, but right now, I’m not sure of it as Audible
seems to be an entirely different paid company. Or memory fails me.

Last week, in response to Sadje’s What Do You See prompt, I wrote about
the contents of the glass in the picture being salt water. And mentioned the source
of inspiration as coming from Paz’s story.

In this post today, I wish to tell you more about Octavio Paz and have you listen to the
lovely story that made me appreciate this author.

At 14:47 minutes long and told by Author Wade Bradford on YouTube, I invite you to
give the story a listen as you go through your busyness of the day. I assure you,
you’ll love what you hear. (Thanks, Wade Bradford).

Let Author Wade Bradford Read This To You While Ya Go ‘Bout Ya Busyness

Press release
October 11, 1990

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1990

“for impassioned writing with wide horizons,
characterized by sensuous intelligence
and humanistic integrity.”

This year the Nobel Prize for Literature goes to the Mexican writer, poet, and
essayist Octavio Paz, honouring a writer of Spanish with a wide international
perspective.

Paz published his first collection of poems while still in his teens. Today, in his
seventy-sixth year, he remains active as a writer and a critic.

In A Draft of Shadows from 1975 there is a line which provides the key to much
of Paz’s production:
>>“Seeing the world is spelling it.”<<
His poetry consists, in other words, to a very great extent of writing both with
and about words. In Paz’s surrealistically inspired thought the words are endowed
in this way with new, changeable, and richer meanings. The power of the poetic
vocation – often asserted by Brodsky, Walcott, and others – gives the words a
form of otherwise unattainable content.

“We never say/ the words of the poem/ The poem tells us” (from Return 1969).
In a poem to Roman Jakobson of 1976 he (Paz) articulates his stance:

“Between what I see and what I say, /between what I say and what I keep silent, /between what I keep silent and what I dream, /between what I dream and what I forget: /poetry.”

To cite this section
MLA style: Press release. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. Tue.
5 Jul 2022.
< https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1990/press-release/ >

I hope you enjoyed this post of a literary passion I’m glad to share with you.
And if you have children, please click on the link I offered above for What Do You See. There you’ll find the lovely YouTube Children’s book. Enjoy.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com
Thanks for reading and I wish you miracles.

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Selma Martin

I’m a simple woman who dares to see the beauty in ordinary. I’d love to connect with you and like pen pals, I want something beautiful to blossom between us. Will you join me? Selma is my middle name. Its meaning—peaceful, complete, are euphoric affirmations I like to think of myself as having. They compliment the joy I feel when I write. I sincerely hope you decide to join me on my writing journey. I Wish You Miracles.

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