Most Read... John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(PN Review 259)
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 Kirsty Gunn re-arranges the world John McAuliffe reads Seamus Heaney's letters and translations Chris Price's 'Songs of Allegiance' David Herman on Aharon Appelfeld Victoria Moul on Christopher Childers compendious Greek and Latin Lyric Book Philip Terry again answers the question, 'What is Poetry'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 246, Volume 45 Number 4, March - April 2019.

Three Poems Lynette Thorstensen
Ephemera

I remain non-committal about admitting that happiness
is ephemeral

the happiness that is deliberately infrequent
the most glancing of moments

the not being caught in the storm
the swollen ankle less swollen today

an astonishing photograph of your son in Ha Long Bay
a complicit smile from a stranger in a bus

in between is
the refugee thing that isn’t getting any better
president 45
the tomato plants destroyed by a hail storm
which are not, however, a wholesale forest fire in
Portugal

then, there is the unexpected laughter
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image