This week marks the end of the term. In Latin American literature we're reading two short stories for our last session: Jaime Manrique's "The Documentary Artist" (influenced by Bartleby) and Jorge Volpi's "Ars Poetica." So before tomorrow, we reread Pablo Neruda's "Ars Poetica" and just perhaps write an "Ars Poetica" of our own. Here's mine.

Impressions: Ars Poetica

A long afternoon,
A singer without a song,
Leaves trembling on the trees,
A winged mermaid floats near the ceiling,
White daisies bloom and fade,
Voices murmur in the hall,
Circling boxes and hidden rooms,
Measured time turns backward while
Letters unwritten and unread
Begin to dance.


More information:
On Jorge Volpi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Volpi
Wikipedia's definition of ars poetica: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_poetica