Most Read... Rebecca WattsThe Cult of the Noble Amateur
(PN Review 239)
John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Tim Parksin conversation with Natalia Ginzburg
(PN Review 49)
Next Issue Hal Coase 'Ochre Pitch' Gregory Woods 'On Queerness' Kirsty Gunn 'On Risk! Carl Phillips' Galina Rymbu 'What I Haven't Written' translated by Sasha Dugdale Gabriel Josipovici 'No More Stories' Valerie Duff-Strautmann 'Anne Carson's Wrong Norma'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
PN Review 276
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 68, Volume 15 Number 6, July - August 1989.

The Quiet Ones Gavin Ewart

Stevie was never in Pop
she was in Palmer's Green
her secludedness didn't stop
how can I say what I mean?
She didn't socialize
she didn't play fast and loose
really I suppose what I mean
is she was a sort-of
sort-of recluse.

Larkin lay hidden in Hull
with the grim head-scarved wives
he liked it backward and dull
with the unflamboyant lives.
There's a lot to be said for a bard
who doesn't spread it around
that's what I'm saying now
it's best to be foxlike and go
go to ground.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image