Most Read... Rebecca WattsThe Cult of the Noble Amateur
(PN Review 239)
John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(PN Review 259)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Next Issue Kirsty Gunn re-arranges the world John McAuliffe reads Seamus Heaney's letters and translations Chris Price's 'Songs of Allegiance' David Herman on Aharon Appelfeld Victoria Moul on Christopher Childers compendious Greek and Latin Lyric Book Philip Terry again answers the question, 'What is Poetry'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 243, Volume 45 Number 1, September - October 2018.

Five Poems from ‘Ring Cairns’ Peter Riley
We are incredible. Our tombs say so. We are
the children of work-destroyed bodies. We walk
up to the circular cemetery at midnight

and shout: ‘Lazare, veni foramI know you’re in there!
Come out of it. And tell us the truth,
after the event, do we wake up or what?

And if we do, what does the world matter?  No,
he says, and the owls signal along the woods each
to each in heraldic hoots: Brother, sister, it turns out

there is no knowing, as we’ve always known.
They say no more but, credible creatures, defy
the regression of polity, crunch a few mice and amen.

                                 *

I remember…  I forget what I remember.  
Ah, Robyn, gentle Robyn, your soft locks
on my forehead and nobody said a word.

It’s not a folk song. It’s a technicality.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image