When I Was a Boy Neruda Called Me Policarpo: A Memoir

About this book

Poli Dlanos real name is Enrique. But when his mother was expecting him Pablo Neruda the great Chilean poet took to calling him Policarpo. The name stuck and today Enrique Dlano also a noted Chilean writer is still known as Poli. Besides his nickname Poli Dlano owes many happy childhood memories to Neruda. For a time he and his parents who were Chilean diplomats lived in Mexico with the poet his wife Delia and their ornery pet badger. This delightful book recalls the period when he saw the fun-loving eccentric Nerudas nearly every day. He learned a wide array of things from the man he called To Pablo how to swim what fate is how to eat grasshoppers how to talk to the spider-woman at the fair and how to stand up to Nazis and bullies. Nerudas almost childlike sense of joy his love of nature and his great enthusiasm for the world resonates with young readers.