Was Mayakovsky listening? Do statues listen? (Pablo Neruda, Statues)

 

 

I make time, most weekends, to read poetry. I read in more than one languages and my mood at the moment leads me to a poet I know, or perhaps one I was eager to discover.

This weekend, I rediscovered Pablo Neruda. I have read most of his romantic poems in Spanish, but had not explored other themes he was known to tackle as well. In my search I stumbled upon a poem about statues he had written during a visit to Moscow. It is a poem about the statues of two famous Russian poets Pushkin and Mayakovsky. I learned that these were not just statues but sites of remembrance where citizens gather to read poetry. That fact alone made me decide to read this poem and explore Neruda’s poetic heritage further.

The poem is titled Estatuas and starts with pigeons perching on Pushkin’s statue:

Las palomas visitaron a Pushkin
y picotearon su melancolía:
la estatua de bronce gris habla con las palomas
con paciencia de bronce

(The pigeons visited Pushkin
and pecked at his melancholy
The gray bronze statue talks to the pigeons
with all the patience of bronze.)

Translated by Jodey Bateman

Then, they fly to Mayakovsky’s statue

y con briznas de Pushkin
vuelan a Mayakovski.
Parece de plomo su estatua,
parece que estuviera
hecha de balas:
no hicieron su ternura
sino su bella arrogancia

 

(They make droppings on Pushkin
Then fly to Mayakovsky.
His statue seems to be of lead.
He seems to have been
made of bullets.
They didn't sculpt his tenderness -
Just his beautiful arrogance.)

And Neruda ends the poem by referring to those who recite poems near the statues

Yo alguna vez ya tarde, ya dormido,
en ciudad, desde el río a las colinas,
oí subir los versos, la salmodia
de los recitativos recitantes.
Vladimir escuchaba?
Escuchan las estatuas?

 

(One time when it was late and I was almost asleep
on the edge of the river, far off in the city
Of the reciters in succession.
Was Mayakovsky listening?
Do statues listen?)

 

… I am not a landscape or urban architecture photographer, although I have taken a few photos of statues. But I have never wondered if statues listen to what surrounds them. Of course Neruda was implying more of a sociological or political type of “listening”, but still it was an interesting, albeit poetic, concept. So, I went back to a few of my photos to see if they would make me understand what Neruda was saying.

 

Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires:  I visited the cemetery on every visit and made sure to pass by this statue. Over the years moss and ground cover vegetation have grown over parts of it providing a distinct character to the stony shapes. The photo at the top of this page shows the early morning shades I like. The statue hides no secrets under the midday sun.

 

Graveyard behind the Armenian Apostolic Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator, Singapore: This is another graveyard I like to visit as it tells the unexpected story of Armenians in Asia dating to the 1800s. The tropical weather of Singapore has taken a toll on the limestone statues and other tombstones, but with the shade of surrounding palm trees, there are magical moments to be captured. Perhaps this is the statue that reminds me of Neruda’s poem and his last question – I have always recited a poem or two, in Armenian, to this enigmatic effigy.

 

The Louvre Museum, Paris.  My parents lived in Paris so for the last decades of their lives Paris was like a second home to me. There are various temporary exhibits to see at the Louvre and these modern statues told a story. In the context of Neruda’s question, perhaps this man did listen to what tourists were saying and disagreed with them!

 

… So, pigeons may sit on statues around the world, but only a poet can let his feelings fly to remind us that a statue represent history, even if they do not respond to the passing of time.

 

February 13, 2023

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2023