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 274, Volume 50 Number 2, November - December 2023.

Three Poems Imogen Wade
Pilates Workout Monologue

The carpet is soft under my back.
I am slick as a Calypso lolly stick.
Lower my spine; exhale to bridge;
back down. What advice would I 
give myself – if I was not myself?
I used to love nothing better than
being wrong. Babies are born all
the time; not a single one is mine.
I practice contralateral twists with
breath control, thoracic rotations,
pelvic tilts, spine flexion. Sunday’s
workout will be chest flys, narrow
squats, bicep curls. My final goal
is to raise my grief over my head
like a hundred kilogram kettlebell.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image