This poem is taken from PN Review 225, Volume 42 Number 1, September - October 2015.

‘The interruption of an Intended Action’ & others

Charles Hall
The interruption of an intended action

The moment when the arms
suddenly swing, the body following,
into a new direction, and the cheeks
blow out with the flouncing figure,
flustering
the actor and the audience alike.
The double take’s the movement that we make
most of the day, the moment when we know
that everything we thought we knew was wrong
or is long gone, or never was
the way to our expected happiness. And after this
how we walk gingerly, weight on our heels,
hoping against hope (and there’s a phrase)
that there might be another interruption.
And it won’t come
                              and we
go sliding down with limbs locked in the snow
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