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 James K. Baxter, Uncollected Poems Rod Mengham, Last Exit for the Revolution Stav Poleg, The Citadel of the Mind Jena Schmitt, Resting Places: The Writing-Life F Friederike Mayrocker Wayne Hill, Poems
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
PN Review 275
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 33, Volume 10 Number 1, September - October 1983.

Coming Back Andrew Waterman

'Home': low streets so intimately mapping
childhood: junction, crescent, alleyways,
bridge, railway-station; fly-blown plate-glass trapping
shop-soiled sunlight; litter, petrol haze,

frail lawns; that bough's configuration steady
above the kerb just as recalled; and there's
the door - but different-coloured now, unready
to admit me. Upstairs sills show dolls and bears.

It continues, hedges trimmed, excited voices
skirling in the park: the kids maybe
of girls that I was young with, Annes, Pams, Joyces,
before I knew this lot was not for me.

Who now, whatever their green years chased after,
shrug half-disclaiming what instead they got,
and shop and cook for, deck with care and laughter;
doing what came naturally - why not?
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image