POEM(S) OF THE DAY: Grace Paley's "Drowning (I)" & "Drowning (II)"

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

DROWNING (II)

This is how come I am drowned:

First the sun shone on me

Then the wind blew over me

Then the sand polished me

Then the sea touched me

Then the tide came

[I love Paley's use of the spaces between words to create a kind of rhythmic scoring. She must have felt limited by punctuation in this respect. And how wonderful is "first friend of my thinking head / dear flesh"?! What else is the body but a companion to the mind? And the word "first" has such interesting implications here…. Thanks Ms. Paley!]