
Pablo Neruda’s “Ode to the Yellow Bird”
- Arts & culture
Today’s poem is a lament over a caged beauty. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe
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I was just thinking I had gone many weeks without sharing a Neruda poem, which for me
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So it's about time, and this one coincides nicely with the turning of the seasons.
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Is this episode right for you?
B2 · Upper-intermediate
Comfortable if you already follow TV news
- 92% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 149 words a minute: a natural pace.
- 28 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
Transcript
The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.
harder words (B2+)
Welcome back to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios. I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Monday, September 28, 2026. Today's poem is by Pablo Neruda. It's called Ode to the Yellow Bird.
I was just thinking I had gone many weeks without sharing a Neruda poem, which for me I think is remarkable restraint. So it's about time, and this one coincides nicely with the turning of the seasons. Here is the poem, Ode to the Yellow Bird.
I buried you in the garden, the grave, tiny as an open hand, Southern earth, cold earth fell covering your plumage, the yellow rays, the black lightnings of your snuffed out body. From Attogrosso, from Fertau Goenia, they sent you, locked up.
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