Most Read... Rebecca WattsThe Cult of the Noble Amateur
(PN Review 239)
John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Next Issue Kirsty Gunn re-arranges the world John McAuliffe reads Seamus Heaney's letters and translations Chris Price's 'Songs of Allegiance' David Herman on Aharon Appelfeld Victoria Moul on Christopher Childers compendious Greek and Latin Lyric Book Philip Terry again answers the question, 'What is Poetry'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 108, Volume 22 Number 4, March - April 1996.

Four Poems Ross Cogan


Ichthus
I swam, me. Up the lake and back for sun
or thumb-fat grubs or maybe the naked hell
of it. A lazy enough life. If one
day some young thug hadn't grabbed me out, I tell
you, I'd be there now. No such luck.
Belly up, lip-stuck, flapping, struck and wrapped
I was, and that was that; off to the fucking
desert with the worst head I ever had.

So now, 'how does the fame feel?' you say. Well
guess. Picture your precious flesh pawed at
and torn not once but time after time in swelling,
stinking, fly-slapped agony - well that's
what it's like, and what I want to say
is this: when the meek take over, who'll pay?




Wittgenstein in Captivity: Italy 1919

'There are, indeed, things that cannot be put into words. They make
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image