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 205, Volume 38 Number 5, May - June 2012.

Three Poems Cristina Navazo-Eguía Newton
Drop Dead, Bakhtai

Die, Bakhtai, so you can go home, set yourself free.
I know you don't like this game of wars. You think
the stoning would mess up your clothes
and make your little feet dirty; but look at me:
I am still walking, caked in mud and straw,
a small buddha, after the giant ones the Taliban blew up.
You see, the buddhas' graves are still standing,
hollow with the shadow of their shape.
I think they went down in shame for all the sticks,
the burnt kites, the paper planes.
Drop your notebook and fall under the winnowed wheat
next time they crack a shot. Let yourself go
flat dead on the threshing floor. This is a storm of chaff,
it's quick and over with all in an eyeshut,
like the nut that fell on the man's head when he sat under the tree.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image