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 129, Volume 26 Number 1, September - October 1999.

Two Poems Ruth Fainlight

Song

The brush of something heavy and wet
                              against your leg in passing
a rustle behind your back a flicker
                              in the corner of your eye
like an uneasy awareness you don't
                              want to acknowledge
a weariness and impatience
                              with the repetition
of energy and ambition, always new
                              theories, life-forms, styles

It's like the ocean, processions of waves
                              cresting the horizon
moving toward you. If only you could sink
                              down through the gritty sand
and opalescent oval pebbles
                              deep enough not to return.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image