Icarus Building a Rocket # 4

Neruda Rising

Yesterday I was in the company of two Australian women I have known for a while now. And over a glass of wine the issue of gender raised its head as they discussed what they would do if they had a penis - goodness, if they only knew. Neruda did when he wrote:

Comes a time when I am tired of being a man...

Comes a time I'm tired of my feet and my fingernails

and my hair and my shadow.

Comes a time I'm tired of being a man.



Yay!



I know just what he means but how do you explain that except as a song or a poem to two Australian professors who are a lot smarter than most and you are soon outspoken (ie they can outspeak you). And then I console myself by reading Neruda's TWENTY LOVE POEMS  and I think - hmm, its not so bad after all. Although instead of lingering on 'I can write the saddest verses' I might stay awhile with, 'I like it when your quiet'. But onwards, today another piece of magic, my first book of 2012 dropped on the mat - yay to it and to me. I guess its not so bad being a man sometimes. But then it cuts in again and there is always another book to be written, so I best get my (wee) buns in gear. And while I was writing this I found myself listening to this song - because my iTunes is on shuffle and it just popped up nicely - its a man song about a river which he sings with his wife.