Indulge Me

It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally I read a new poem and it gives me the good willies. I am going to repeat it here because it fits my aesthetic, and I hope that by typing it, some of it will rub off on me. Navel-gazing begins....now:

Detour

I had put my days behind me
almost as they happened rolling
faces streets personal dramas
into a scroll quickly
quickly sometimes my heels
were caught in the last conver-
sation so shaking to free myself
all that clutter flew
up into the air scrambled
sentences my sister's death the
name of what's his name his mouth
his fingers a heavy chunk of a
principled political statement
whose?

future was my intention now
all that detritus like sand like
dust has drifted into the eyes
of my children who after all must
continue one of my heaviest
sorrows has just tumbled at
their feet they stumble what
to do anger fear luckily their
children have imperiously
called offering their lives a
detour thank God they've all
gotten away

—Grace Paley