photos © luis poirot

Red Poppy draws its inspiration from Pablo Neruda. Our non-profit in fact was first founded to develop a documentary chronicling his life and poetry which has influenced so many around the world, in order to carry his example and message--with all his faults and follies included--to inspire even more.

Pablo Neruda was raised on the Chilean frontier just above Patagonia at the beginning of the 20th Century. From that green earth of snow-capped volcanoes, he grew to be a public poet, a statesman, an activist and Nobel Laureate. He has been named Latin America's most important cultural figure of the past century. An enigmatic figure, Neruda attained mythic stature in his lifetime; the poet from the far south was a star on the world stage.

And not only is Pablo Neruda's one of history's greatest poets, he is perhaps the grandest example of a true "people's poet." Neruda is one of history's strongest examples of a poet who used the power of the pen over the sword in his fight for justice.

Pablo Neruda created a new vanguard poetic expression in an aching lyricism and potent political verse, a distinctly Americano poetic voice rooted in Latin America¹s native cultures and untamed geography. He wrestled poetry down from the rarified atmosphere of the salon and gave it to the people, a communal voice of the old oral tradition, fired by raw passion and the struggle for justice.

“Poetry is like bread,” he wrote. “It should be shared by all, by scholars and peasants, by all our vast, incredible, extraordinary family of humanity." Read more about Pablo Neruda