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 37, Volume 10 Number 5, March - April 1984.

Poems David Punter

IN THE GARDEN OF YU

A thousand goldfish radiate in the pool before
The Hall of the Jade Mountain; then spin towards the bread you've
  thrown
Packing themselves in deep below the rose stone. On the Bridge
Of Nine Corners thin shadows hover, carved in bone,
Smoke grey and cloud pink. Stepping through the Dragon Door,
You feel the garden remaking itself round you, each delicate edge
Adjusted in the Hall of Perfect Harmony; I can place you
In a myriad settings, moving from one intricate teak lattice
To another. In the Hall of the Three Ears of Grain
There are antlers, and each chair is a crimson sculpted chalice
To hold you, poised. Tiny floating trees, misted with blue,
Are your attendants; ripples in the pathways and the scrolled
  woods stain
Deferentially record your every movement. When you stop,
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image