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)
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 30, Volume 9 Number 4, March - April 1983.

Two Poems Jennifer McMahon

THE MIND, THAT OCEAN-

Marvelling at notions that up-end our view
through nature: show an upright city grew
reflected in canals-there hung to dry
suspended from black clogs that trod the sky;

How every smut that smogged away the heaven
had kerchiefed mate, trudging to mass at seven;

how camera obscura clarifies
with mirror image; every civic muddle
is flatly contradicted in a puddle-
nature's facility for quick replies,

like authors meeting books they wrote on shelves,
we find, at length, reflections of ourselves;
love's bait is swallowed by our counterpart,
deep wells hide all of us below the heart.

Tried by resemblances, our pride deplores
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image