Friday, August 03, 2007

How I Killed Pablo Neruda

Some people should know by now that I'm not really a music person (yes, despite the fact that I work for, get this, a rock magazine). What most people don't know however is that I'm not really a poetry person. Good poetry just doesn't elicit the same reaction a good story would. And while there are some poetry pieces which are heartfelt and I really appreciate much, they're more often the short ones, especially haikus.

Did I mention I have no ear for poetry?

I think the worst experience (for other people) was during one LitSoc (Literary Society, an org in Ateneo) meeting, we had a poetry reading session and I was one of the luckless freshmen present who was asked to read Pablo Neruda poems. Monotone doesn't even begin to describe how I read it (it's also a complaint my call center trainers had). It was so bad that Setsuna, an officer and moderator for that event, had to cut me off and stop me to spare the rest as I butchered one of Pablo Neruda's poems.

Moral of the story? Don't make me read poems out loud!

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