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 275
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 46, Volume 12 Number 2, November - December 1985.

The Swimming Body Jeffrey Wainwright

I

In this world or out of it? -
The senses mostly muffled up for a while;
Or lapped in its elements,
Even this simple exemplary tank
Has the world's halves, and gives a line
To be followed, and followed.

I've pressed the goggles to my face,
Decided whether to jump or dive,
And now follow the line, breathing by the book,
Using the water as a pillow, rolling right
Behind the bow-wave, centreing to look
Straight in front, just below the surface,
The elbow high on entering, the hand palm down
Between shoulder and head, looking for it there,
Seeking its feel and its catch on the water
To draw movement from it.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image