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 Stav Poleg's Banquet Stanley Moss In a concluding conversation, with Neilson MacKay John Koethe Poems Gwyneth Lewis shares excerpts from 'Nightshade Mother: a disentangling' John Redmond revisits 'Henneker's Ditch'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 125, Volume 25 Number 3, January - February 1999.

Two Poems Robert Rehder

Habeus Corpus

The first snowfall asks questions
That are not answered,

Dusting everything white,
Leaving us to rethink our purposes.

Who needs more description?
The American Revolution might have

Turned out differently.
The British government did not understand

The American reality.
They lost touch.

And the generals were too slow,
Too careful, too indecisive,

And unwilling to take risks.
They did everything by the book.

I keep putting off writing letters,
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image