Most Read... John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Next Issue Sinead Morrissey 'The Lightbox' Philip Terry 'What is Poetry' Ned Denny 'Nine Poems after Verlaine' Sasha Dugdale 'On learning that Russian mothers buy their soldier sons lucky belts inscribed with Psalm 90 to wear into battle' Rod Mengham 'Cold War Hot Air'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 229, Volume 42 Number 5, May - June 2016.

Mothball Moon Carol Mavor
‘Having been breathed out’  [Sappho]
      my mother died.                                                                                             

We folded her arms
          as if she were
          a fortune cookie
          with a secret paper tucked inside.
      Now she sits in a big jar on my father's chest of drawers
      where inside are his perfectly folded
      sweaters
      T-shirts
      socks
      boxer
      underwear.

      I want to know if the Moon
      shines inside the black hole
      of a big conch shell
      like a mothball inside a dark
      drawer, just opened.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image