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 43, Volume 11 Number 5, May - June 1985.

Passing Through Doorways Frank Kuppner


I

i.
I can no longer remain in this building,
Not after this latest turn of events;
After I have shut the door, my watch says 9.26;
I walk down those few stairs again, determined, above all,
      to pass time.

ii.
Having spent all my life not merely in one city,
But in a tightly circumscribed part of one city,
I find that most of the significant doors in my life
Opened and shut within a few minutes of each other.

iii.
A leisurely evening walk could unite four of them;
Have I really never gone on such a walk before?
It is autumn, and again the sky is completely dark;
It is the wrong time of the evening to have crowds on the
      streets.


II

iv.
After twenty minutes, and hardly more than four
      roads,
I am once again in the street where I was born;
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image