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 153, Volume 30 Number 1, September - October 2003.

Three Poems after Jules Supervielle Moniza Alvi


Riderless Horses

Once there was a cavalry troop,
long dispersed.
The horses would soak their necks in the future
so they could gallop on and on.

They were wild and tireless.

Sleek black, fearful,
they'd run in all directions,
spin round in circles,
stopping only to die,
change pace in the dust, and start again.

The frantic colts would catch up with the mares.

So many horses have passed this way
and nothing is left of them
but the beating of their hooves.

Let me listen to the hoof beats of my past -
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image