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 Hal Coase 'Ochre Pitch' Gregory Woods 'On Queerness' Kirsty Gunn 'On Risk! Carl Phillips' Galina Rymbu 'What I Haven't Written' translated by Sasha Dugdale Gabriel Josipovici 'No More Stories' Valerie Duff-Strautmann 'Anne Carson's Wrong Norma'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
PN Review 275
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 261, Volume 48 Number 1, September - October 2021.

Two Poems (translated by David Colmer) K. Michel
Translated by David Colmer


Bookkeeping

my accountant comes to visit
together we clear a table
for his leaning tower of folders
my sister comes in
she acts very cranky towards him
first she’s wearing a baggy tracksuit
the kind ballerinas wear when warming up
a little later an all denim outfit
what’s up with the foul mood
I whisper in the hall
well I was just at the doctor’s
and basically he said I’m going to die
what a nitwit I say

you’ve been dead for ages
and we burst out laughing
and then she goes to the dry cleaner’s to pick up the curtains
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image