Nicanor Parra: The Nobel Prize for Reading

The Nobel Prize for Reading
should be awarded to me
I am the ideal reader,
I read everything I get my hands on:

I read street names
and neon signs
bathroom walls
and new price-lists

the police news,
projections for the Derby

and license plates

for a person like me
the word is something holy

members of the jury
what would I gain by lying
as a reader, I'm relentless

I read everyting - I don't even skip
the classifieds

of course these days I don't read much
I simply don't have the time
But - oh man - what I have read

that's why I'm asking you to give me
the Nobel Prize for Reading
as soon as impossible

(antitranslated by Lis Werner)