This poem is taken from PN Review 289, Volume 52 Number 5, May - June 2026.
Four Poems
Baby Moses
The moon is drifting
On the fetid ditch’s
Rippling pitch
Like Lermontov’s sail,
The reflection of perfection.
Then a bum’s bum
Unhitches its rigging
And cranes like a lunar wolf,
Its turd-tongue probing,
As it protrudes from his hole,
As slowly as a birthing babe,
First crowning,
Then the life-giving squeeze,
And plop,
Shattering the moon, the sail,
As it drifts away
Like baby Moses on the Nile.
...
The moon is drifting
On the fetid ditch’s
Rippling pitch
Like Lermontov’s sail,
The reflection of perfection.
Then a bum’s bum
Unhitches its rigging
And cranes like a lunar wolf,
Its turd-tongue probing,
As it protrudes from his hole,
As slowly as a birthing babe,
First crowning,
Then the life-giving squeeze,
And plop,
Shattering the moon, the sail,
As it drifts away
Like baby Moses on the Nile.
...
The page you have requested is restricted to subscribers only. Please enter your username and password and click on 'Continue'. Please ensure that you enter your username and password exactly as you specified them, including any capital letters. Your username is not your email address:
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 295 issues containing over 11,800 poems, articles, reports, interviews and reviews,
why not subscribe to the website today?