Most Read... John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(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)
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 41, Volume 11 Number 3, January - February 1985.

Poems Elizabeth Smither

DARWIN'S GREEN BILE

After meals for years he vomited
The bile of his discovery
Diagnosis: the wrong temperament.

Square peg in a round hole we call it
This gigantic discovery sitting on
The forehead of a happy temperament.

Wisdom in it? Nature's
Way of getting the message across
A man so mild, such a happy disposition

That the discovery would not go away
But leap over decade after decade
Being worn down by Darwin's reasonableness.

A small price for a kind of pregnancy
And the bile was clear, if you can call
Green clear, of impediment.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image