This poem is taken from PN Review 211, Volume 39 Number 5, May - June 2013.
'Choices' and Other Poems
Choices
Asparagus green and sprouting, or asparagus white and forced?
Wine from grapes grown on granite, or wine from grapes grown in loam?
Hypo- or holo-: which is your favourite caust?
Hippo- or velo-: which is your favourite drome?
Generalissimo Francisco Franco, or Antonio Salazar?
A fair working wage for all, or a six-figure starting salary?
Un coup d'état jamais n'abolira le hasard,
or all the spicier bits of Thomas Malory?
A group of seven magpies: how do you divide it?
Is all that happens fated, or are things down to sheer dumb luck?
Do you open the big red box, or the smaller box inside it?
A hundred duck-sized horses, or a single horse-sized duck?
Sir Christopher or Pigling: which is your favourite Bland?
A book to be read at one sitting, or a book to be read with one hand?
Mad Wife
All that day she screamed and raved, the slightest thing
...
Asparagus green and sprouting, or asparagus white and forced?
Wine from grapes grown on granite, or wine from grapes grown in loam?
Hypo- or holo-: which is your favourite caust?
Hippo- or velo-: which is your favourite drome?
Generalissimo Francisco Franco, or Antonio Salazar?
A fair working wage for all, or a six-figure starting salary?
Un coup d'état jamais n'abolira le hasard,
or all the spicier bits of Thomas Malory?
A group of seven magpies: how do you divide it?
Is all that happens fated, or are things down to sheer dumb luck?
Do you open the big red box, or the smaller box inside it?
A hundred duck-sized horses, or a single horse-sized duck?
Sir Christopher or Pigling: which is your favourite Bland?
A book to be read at one sitting, or a book to be read with one hand?
Mad Wife
All that day she screamed and raved, the slightest thing
...
The page you have requested is restricted to subscribers only. Please enter your username and password and click on 'Continue'.
If you have forgotten your username and password, please enter the email address you used when you joined. Your login details will then be emailed to the address specified.
If you are not a subscriber and would like to enjoy the 285 issues containing over 11,500 poems, articles, reports, interviews and reviews, why not subscribe to the website today?
If you have forgotten your username and password, please enter the email address you used when you joined. Your login details will then be emailed to the address specified.
If you are not a subscriber and would like to enjoy the 285 issues containing over 11,500 poems, articles, reports, interviews and reviews, why not subscribe to the website today?