Poem of the Week | March 09, 2012
Brian Swann: "Pavlova"
Our feature this week is a previously unpublished poem by Brian Swann. Swann’s new collection of poems will be published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Pavlova
Through the open window comes “America” again played in the park
by a Marine band among statues, some broken, one a large bird trying
to leave the stone, and then come the voices of the couple upstairs
who have installed a new oven. It’s all they talk about, new oven,
what they’ll make in it, even how they’ll start a new career in it.
Meanwhile my wife is making a career out of making a baby.
It’s all she talks about, “career” is the word she uses. I look it up:
to go about wildly. She reports that the foetus, Little Ludwig, is musical
and kicks. While I am walking on eggshells, our blatospheric dot, our
little gemule, is knotting into himself, blossoming, rhyming naturally,
growing by division, week by week, month by month, preparing for
publication. He has big plans, she says. As for me, I’m looking out
the window at the bird in the stone, remembering Pavlova’s famous
last words: Hand me my swan costume. Where did she think she was going?
SEE THE ISSUE
SUGGESTED CONTENT
Poem of the Week
Jul 04 2022
“William deKooning’s Woman I” by Diane Mehta
This week’s Poem of the Week is “William deKooning’s Woman I” by Diane Mehta. Diane Mehta was born in Frankfurt and grew up in Bombay and New Jersey. She was… read more
Poem of the Week
Jun 27 2022
“Minnie Mouse vs. Security” by M.K. Foster
This week’s Poem of the Week is “Minnie Mouse vs. Security” by M.K. Foster. M.K. Foster’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review; The Gettysburg Review; Crab Orchard;… read more
Poem of the Week
Jun 20 2022
“Black Hole in the Long Island Sound” by Peter LaBerge
This week’s Poem of the Week is “Black Hole in the Long Island Sound” by Peter LaBerge. Peter LaBerge is the author of the chapbooks Makeshift Cathedral (YesYes Books) and… read more