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 276
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 272, Volume 49 Number 6, July - August 2023.

Snow Leopard and Dark-Iris Lakes Stav Poleg
Because I’m not sure how long the main character
is planning to stay – in fact, he’s just walked out
to watch the fireworks flowering turquoise and green
as the snow gets heavier and bright – let’s just say that for a long-distance
runner and an occasional sprinter, he’s one of those erratic treasures
with eyes so intensely cerulean and wild –
one could safely embark on a starship adventure to a far off
planet, knowing those deep, shiny irises will be visible
from space. Two astonishing lakes –
the kind that would turn you into a believer
in distance and play. Soon you will take a crash course
in wild swimming and deep-water
diving, soon you will learn to construct a spaceship
equipped with an advanced telescope lens to help you cope
with the mounting contradiction of velocity and longing
once leaving becomes the inevitable conclusion
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image