View From a Michigander’s Keyboard ~ Theodore Roethke

In honor of upcoming Fathers’ Day and in celebration of a Michigan writing life, allow me to present the following:

 

My Papa’s Waltz

by Theodore Roethke (1908 – 1963)

 

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’s image above was found on HistoryLink.org. Roethke was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1908. Today the house he grew up in is a National Literary Landmark, and serves as a museum and venue for a number of literary events such as readings and community workshops. For more information go to RoethkeHouse.org. -PMc←