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 209, Volume 39 Number 3, January - February 2013.

'The Sea' and Other Poems Caoilinn Hughes
The Sea

The ocean cannot breathe enough to compose itself
but, despite its white paroxysms, it seems to plead:
(the land commiserates, picturing the licked bathymetry)
I am not so broken; not so totally broken as yesterday.

Despite its white paroxysms, it seems to plead:
it is the syzygy that has me all at sea; it is beyond me, beyond me,
but I am not so broken, so totally broken as yesterday.
Just wait for the apogee, when we can laugh the far-flung moon away!

It is the syzygy that has me at sea; it is beyond me, beyond me.
The orbits of the planets are elliptical, so I assemble
in the apogee, when we can laugh the far-flung moon away.
We can lie body by body overlain, and assess the torque I make.

The orbits of the planets are elliptical, so I assemble
the gradual angle of its wane; the gradual space where
we can lie body by interwoven body and assess the torque I make;
the legroom I intimidate between Earth and encroaching Moon.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image