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 51, Volume 13 Number 1, September - October 1986.

Northern Metres for Tony Harrison in Florida Donald Davie

Your grandad worked the signals
At Haworth, mine at Horton:
Old railwaymen.

Self-satisfied a little,
Their and our preference for
The overtly neat and tidy.

We have to be so overt!
The signals clack down smartly
Yes or No; no fudging

Unless it were ... why yes,
As between fragrant cedar
And stinking, lasting cypress.

Done with a lovely touch, your
Emblem of that: the chairs
Standing opposed on your porch.

One cedarwood, one cypress,
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image