Read the winning piece of our 2025 Nonfiction Contest “Through the Mirror” by Jessie Cato selected by Lucy Ives.

Read

July/Aug 2019 • Vol. XLI No. 4 • Poetry |

At the Edge of the Forest

I
For such a long time we thought all it would take
was stretching our arms out to touch the sky
and hold the old horizon on a leash

for such a long time that the gesture stays in us
at the sight of a woman surprised at dawn
washing day and night in her tears

Already have an account? Log in

Join KR for even more to read.

Sign up for a free account and read any five pieces a month.
Sign Up and Read for Free



Or become a subscriber today and get complete, immediate access to our digital archives at every subscription level.
Marilyn Hacker is the author of twelve books of poems, most recently Names (W.W. Norton 2010), and of ten collections of poetry translated from French. She received the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation in 2009 for Marie Etienne’s King of a Hundred Horsemen. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a former editor of The Kenyon Review.

Read More

The Date

By Guy Goffette

What is it that’s still keeping you here in the damp air and in the wind scowling at the lilacs. Is it the house where in the shadows you once […]

Upcoming
Workshops

Subscribe

Your free registration with The Kenyon Review includes access to exclusive content, early access to program registration, and more.

Donate

With your support, we’ll continue 
to cultivate talent and publish extraordinary literature from diverse voices around the world.