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 134, Volume 26 Number 6, July - August 2000.

Two Poems Carola Luther

'Then there was silence'

Then there was silence. And crying. And arms.
And trying to shut your mouth. And the new
shapes of the mouths of friends, their moving hands.
And the sitting and looking and hearing an echo
on the placing of bowls being prepared
for the washing, and noticing the shutness
of the hospital window, the trying
to open the window which wouldn't.
The someone saying it was peaceful. The way
Ivan tidied the table. Moved the sheet.
Picked up the cup. Folded the clothes. Put
down the cup. Walked out of the room
with silence. The sitting and staring. The hearing
the bubbles of sadness in somebody's throat
close-up and the faraway life of corridors.
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image