Theodore Roethke Quotes - Page 4

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• The stones were sharp, The wind came at my back; Walking along the highway, Mincing like a cat.

  Theodore Roethke

  Cat, Journey, Wind

  Theodore Roethke (2005). “Selected Poems”

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• The fields stretch out in long unbroken rows. We walk aware of what is far and close. Here distance is familiar as a friend. The feud we kept with space comes to an end.

  Theodore Roethke

  Distance, Space, Long

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.31, Anchor

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• Teach as an old fishing guide takes out a beginner.

  Theodore Roethke

  Teaching, Fishing, Beginners

  Theodore Roethke, Carolyn Kizer (2013). “On Poetry and Craft: Selected Prose”, p.133, Copper Canyon Press

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• In the kingdom of bang and blab.

  Theodore Roethke

  Bangs, Kingdoms

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.97, Anchor

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• I bleed my bones, their marrow to bestowUpon that God who knows what I would know.

  Theodore Roethke

  Bones, Marrow, Knows

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.353, Anchor

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• Long live the weeds that overwhelm
  My narrow vegetable realm!
  The bitter rock, the barren soil
  That force the son of man to toil;
  All things unholy, marred by curse,
  The ugly of the universe.

  Theodore Roethke

  Weed, Son, Men

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.39, Anchor

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• Fear was my father, Father Fear. His look drained the stones.

  Theodore Roethke

  Fear, Father, Looks

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.99, Anchor

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• Death was not. I lived in a simple drowse:Hands and hair moved through a dream of wakening blossoms.Rain sweetened the cave and the dove still called;The flowers leaned on themselves, the flowers in hollows;And love, love sang toward.

  Theodore Roethke

  Dream, Rain, Flower

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.114, Anchor

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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.

  Theodore Roethke

  Fall, Sleep, Light

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.165, Anchor

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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.

  Theodore Roethke

  Mother, Boys, Hands

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.83, Anchor

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• Beginnings start without shade,Thinner than minnows.The live grass whirls with the sun,Feet run over the simple stones,There's time enough.Behold, in the lout's eye, love.

  Theodore Roethke

  Running, Eye, Simple

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.146, Anchor

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• I'm sure I've been a toad, one time or another. With bats, weasels, worms...I rejoice in the kinship. Even the caterpillar I can love, and the various vermin.

  Theodore Roethke

  Nature, Bats, Toads

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.219, Anchor

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• So much of adolescence is an ill-defined dying, An intolerable waiting, A longing for another place and time, Another condition.

  Theodore Roethke

  Waiting, Dying, Longing

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.232, Anchor

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• The living all assemble! What's the cue?--
  Do what the clumsy partner wants to do!

  Theodore Roethke

  Desire, Want, Partners

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.161, Anchor

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• 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.

  Theodore Roethke

  Mean, Order, Broken

  Theodore Roethke (2011). “The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke”, p.73, Anchor

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• And what a congress of stinks!- Roots ripe as old bait, Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich, Leaf mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks, Nothing would give up life: Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath.

  Theodore Roethke

  Life, Giving Up, Breathing

  1948 The Lost Son,'Root Cellar'.

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• God bless the roots! Body and soul are one.

  Theodore Roethke

  Roots, Soul, Body

  Theodore Roethke (2005). “Selected Poems”

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• In our age, if a boy or girl is untalented, the odds are in favor of their thinking they want to write.

  Theodore Roethke

  Girl, Writing, Boys

  Theodore Roethke, Carolyn Kizer (2013). “On Poetry and Craft: Selected Prose”, p.89, Copper Canyon Press

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• Nothing would give up life: Even the dirt keeps breathing a small breath.

  Theodore Roethke

  Giving Up, Breathing, Dirt

  Theodore Roethke, “Root Cellar”

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• You must believe a poem is a holy thing, a good poem, that is.

  Theodore Roethke

  Believe, Holy

  Theodore Roethke (2001). “On Poetry and Craft: Selected Prose of Theodore Roethke”, p.203, Copper Canyon Press

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