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Nothing would give up life: Even the dirt keeps breathing a small breath.
Theodore Roethke
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Theodore Roethke
Age: 55 †
Born: 1908
Born: May 25
Died: 1963
Died: August 1
Poet
Teacher
Writer
Saginaw
Michigan
Life
Breaths
Keeps
Small
Give
Nothing
Giving
Dirt
Even
Breathing
Would
Breath
More quotes by Theodore Roethke
The living all assemble! What's the cue?-- Do what the clumsy partner wants to do!
Theodore Roethke
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
In a dark time, the eye begins to see / I meet my shadow in the deepening shade...Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire.
Theodore Roethke
The stones were sharp, The wind came at my back Walking along the highway, Mincing like a cat.
Theodore Roethke
I lose and find myself in the long water. I am gathered together once more.
Theodore Roethke
The indignity of it!- With everything blooming above me, Lilies, pale-pink cyclamen, roses, Whole fields lovely and inviolate,- Me down in the fetor of weeds, Crawling on all fours, Alive, in a slippery grave.
Theodore Roethke
What is madness but nobility of soul at odds with circumstance?
Theodore Roethke
But when I breath with the birds, The spirit of wrath becomes the spirit of blessings, And the dead begin from their dark to sing in my sleep.
Theodore Roethke
Art is our defense against hysteria and death.
Theodore Roethke
All lovers live by longing, and endure: Summon a vision and declare it pure.
Theodore Roethke
In this place of light: he dares to live Who stops being a bird, yet beats his wings Against the immense immeasurable emptiness of things.
Theodore Roethke
The poet: would rather eat a heart than a hambone.
Theodore Roethke
When I go mad, I call my friends by phone: I am afraid they might think they're alone.
Theodore Roethke
Let others probe the mystery if they can.Time-harried prisoners of Shall and Will -The right thing happens to the happy man.
Theodore Roethke
And soon a branch, part of a hidden scene,The leafy mind, that long was tightly furled,Will turn its private substance into green,And young shoots spread upon our inner world.
Theodore Roethke
Being, not doing, is my first joy.
Theodore Roethke
How body from spirit slowly does unwind, until we are pure spirit at the end.
Theodore Roethke
I learn by going where I have to go.
Theodore Roethke
I came where the river Ran over stones My ears knew An early joy. And all the waters Of all the streams Sang in my veins That summer day.
Theodore Roethke
What falls away is always. And is near.
Theodore Roethke
