Friday, August 31, 2007

One of Grace Paley's final poems (it just about kills me):

Drowning (I)


If I were in the middle of the Atlantic
Drowning far from home
I would look up at the sky
Veil of my hiding life
And say:
Goodbye


Then I would sink


The second time I'd come up I'd say:
These are the willful waves of the watery sea
Which is drowning me
Then I would sink
The third time I'd come up: it would be my last
My arms reaching
My knees falling
I'd cry oh oh
First friend of my thinking head
Dear flesh
Farewell

orignal link

2 comments:

Kit Stolz said...

I feel that one...

gayle said...

Me too--such a visceral poem. It stabs me in the heart.