This poem is taken from PN Review 234, Volume 43 Number 4, March - April 2017.
Three Poems
and Pierre?
With his ripe face like one of those pale freckled pears
you hold in your hand and his mind shuddering across it
like a bruise – he’s legible to all the world. With his great legs,
broad and strong as the trees, he walks in and out of chapters
smelling of eau de cologne, or an animal that sleeps in a barn.
With his long fingers running across the stubble on his jaw,
he listens to the black Russian rain before he picks up his pen.
With his eyes so blue you’d think he’d drunk the sky down
with all that champagne, he watches the soldiers (red epaulettes
and high boots) drag that boy to the place where they shoot him.
He watches the boy pull his loose coat tight before he sags and slides
down the post. And when it’s all over, he watches them roll him
gently into the hole with the others and before he can look away,
he sees, there in the earth, the boy’s shoulder still moving.
Can’t stand them
...
With his ripe face like one of those pale freckled pears
you hold in your hand and his mind shuddering across it
like a bruise – he’s legible to all the world. With his great legs,
broad and strong as the trees, he walks in and out of chapters
smelling of eau de cologne, or an animal that sleeps in a barn.
With his long fingers running across the stubble on his jaw,
he listens to the black Russian rain before he picks up his pen.
With his eyes so blue you’d think he’d drunk the sky down
with all that champagne, he watches the soldiers (red epaulettes
and high boots) drag that boy to the place where they shoot him.
He watches the boy pull his loose coat tight before he sags and slides
down the post. And when it’s all over, he watches them roll him
gently into the hole with the others and before he can look away,
he sees, there in the earth, the boy’s shoulder still moving.
Can’t stand them
...
The page you have requested is restricted to subscribers only. Please enter your username and password and click on 'Continue'.
If you have forgotten your username and password, please enter the email address you used when you joined. Your login details will then be emailed to the address specified.
If you are not a subscriber and would like to enjoy the 286 issues containing over 11,500 poems, articles, reports, interviews and reviews, why not subscribe to the website today?
If you have forgotten your username and password, please enter the email address you used when you joined. Your login details will then be emailed to the address specified.
If you are not a subscriber and would like to enjoy the 286 issues containing over 11,500 poems, articles, reports, interviews and reviews, why not subscribe to the website today?