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This poem is taken from PN Review 241, Volume 44 Number 5, May - June 2018.

A Sequence and Six Poems Craig Raine
You Plural, You Singular

All the way up Everest,
there is litter –
litter and dead bodies.

But at the summit,
a flag’s essential tremor.

During the descent,
you need to see your feet.

Do not cry
when someone falls to their death.
Tears make it difficult
to see your Scarpa Phantoms.

Someone.
Two people –
Lamps and Jezza –
Lamps then Jezza.
The same sudden crevasse.

But you try to hold back the tears.
...


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