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 34, Volume 10 Number 2, November - December 1983.

Intra Muros (translated by Theo Hermans) H.C. ten Berge

for Yolande and the lotus eater

In the rue de Vaugirard
there's a messag6e on a wall

Lotus: changez votre décor

I'll gladly take it to heart
now that I'm walking beside her delicate smile
and near the same wall where I
buy pumpkins the street has suddenly
changed its aspect


ADJUSTED SONNET

A wall and a wall and a wall and a wall with a door
a sketch of a wall and a wall and a wall and a wall with a door
a jacket and a shoe and a lemon and a pad on a table
a sketch of a jacket and a shoe and a lemon and a pad on a table
a hand and a letter and a mouth and a mosquito
a sketch of a hand and a letter and a mouth and a mosquito
an eye and a mouth and a shoe and a wall
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image