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 143, Volume 28 Number 3, January - February 2002.

Eleven More Destinations John Gallas

Anon. Brunei

A twist of hair...

A twist of hair
stitches softly
puffed flour
on a pan.

I lower my
pinced fingers
at it in a thin
flour-cloud.

Carefully. The hair
must not prick
deeper or
slip away.

And the flour
must not hush
off the edge
by breath or dab.

A delicate matter
needs the same
exact line
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image