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This poem is taken from PN Review 71, Volume 16 Number 3, January - February 1990.

Gualchos Anthony Howell

Is this a wild-goose-chase, or is it an adventure?
After a strenuous session by the swimming-pool,
I have abandoned my mother and my son
And found a man to drive me up the mountain.
Soon I will stand in the white-washed village of
    Gualchos,
Miles from the gumtrees shading our hotel.

A while ago I was leaving that hotel,
Dressed fit to kill, all prepared for adventure,
Alas with no clue to my friend's address in Gualchos.
Wasn't this rash? Better to stay by the pool
Than walk the streets, perspiring on some mountain
Of fruitless enquiry. A father should stay with his son.

But I've not been inattentive to my son
Since we stepped off a bus and found a cool hotel
In the coastal town which lies below the mountain.
...


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