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The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke

Book by Theodore Roethke · 43 quotes · Light, Long, Body

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The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke Quotes

“I always felt mean, jogging back over the logging road,As if I had broken the natural order of things in that swampland;Disturbed some rhythm, old and of vast importance,By pulling off flesh from the living planet;As if I had committed, against the whole scheme of life, a desecration.”

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Book:The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke
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“My Papa's Waltz: The whiskey on your breath Could make a small boy dizzy; But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy. We romped until the pans Slid from the kitchen shelf; My mother's countenance Could not unfrown itself. The hand that held my wrist Was battered on one knuckle; At every step you missed My right ear scraped a buckle. You beat time on my head With a palm caked hard by dirt, Then waltzed me off to bed Still clinging to your shirt.”

StillsHardHandsMotherEasyStepsBoysBedBeatsEarsBreathsShirtsKitchenHungDirtShelvesPalmsWhiskeyEvery StepClingingWristsCountenanceDizzyPapaBatteredKnucklesWaltzBuckles
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“Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how? The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair; I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. Great Nature has another thing to do To you and me, so take the lively air, And, lovely, learn by going where to go. This shaking keeps me steady. I should know. What falls away is always. And is near. I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow. I learn by going where I have to go.”

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Book:The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke
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