Crazy Messy Beautiful

By Carrie Arcos
Lexile = 630

Sweet little romance here. The main character is a guy; the author is quite good at getting into his head. His name is Neruda. Named after the romantic poet Pablo Neruda, this Neruda has romance on his mind as well. But it ends up coming from a place he hadn't imagined.

Crazy Messy Beautiful was a quick read for me. It also made me look up the poet Neruda and do a bit of extemporaneous poetic exploring myself. Check this out: (Proof that this is a romance.....)

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.


----Pablo Neruda (Translated by Stephen Tapscott)