Telemachus’ Detachment by Louise Glück

Telemachus’ Detachment
by Louise Glück

When I was a child looking
at my parents’ lives, you know
what I thought? I thought
heartbreaking. Now I think
heartbreaking, but also
insane. Also
very funny.

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Telemachus' Detachment is from Meadowlands (1996), Glück's reframing of the Odyssey through the lens of a contemporary failing marriage. Telemachus — Odysseus and Penelope's son — speaks in several poems across the book, articulating what the adult child of a difficult marriage carries. The development of perspective across a few lines is just so striking, and also — so widened, more inclusive, more complete, more everything, insane and funny and heartbreaking all at once.

Glück, Telemachus' Detachment. From Meadowlands (Ecco / HarperCollins, 1996)