Most Read... 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)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(PN Review 259)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 178, Volume 34 Number 2, November - December 2007.

Two Poems John F. Deane

Mappa Mundi

Let this then be your diary and yearbook: make
     a frame of oak on which to fix
a sheet of finest vellum, stretched, like skin; draw

freehand, a not quite perfect circle; use black
     ink, some red, for the heart, let's say, for the Red
Sea; blue for rivers, veins; brown-egg shapes

for mountain ranges, and for faith; focus it all
     towards the centre, Christ, his bones stretched wide
in crucifixion, colour him too insistent red

to confute the non-believers. Puce, for wars, but let it not
     predominate. Have angels of the agony above
and devils snarling, scarlet, in the guts. Remember

that something within the frame of bones grows wiser
     as the bones grow heavier, the same that shifts
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image