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This poem is taken from PN Review 263, Volume 48 Number 3, January - February 2022.

There's a Poem I Love Sophie Hannah
There’s a Poem I Love…

There’s a poem I love that cannot be found by Googling.
I’ve tried with the author’s name, some key words, the title,
and there’s nothing. This makes it feel absolutely vital
that I carry on looking. There must be someone who(gling)
at some point, on Wordpress, posted a verse or two(gling)
or a photographed page from a long-lost poetry recital.

There’s a poem I love that cannot be found by Googling.
I remember the first two verses but not the last.
I’ve searched right back to my memory’s distant past
in the hope of retrieving it all, but only a few(gling)
stanzas emerged. What on earth did we used to do(gling)
before we assumed we could find things super-fast?

There’s a poem I love that cannot be found by Googling.
Wherever it lives these days, it is not online.
Should I put down my phone and go to the…? Nah, it’s fine.
...


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