Theodore Roethke: Selected Poems

edited by edward hirsch

INTRODUCTION

from Open House (1941)

Open House

The Premonition

Mid-Country Blow

The Heron

The Bat

"Long Live the Weeds"

On the Road to Woodlawn

Highway: Michigan

Night Journey

from The Lost Son and Other Poems (1948)

Cuttings

Cuttings (later)

Root Cellar

Forcing House

Weed Puller

Orchids

Moss-Gathering

Big Wind

Old Florist

Frau Bauman, Frau Schmidt, and Frau Schwartze

Transplanting

Child on Top of a Greenhouse

Flower Dump

Carnations

My Papa's Waltz

Pickle Belt

Dolor

Double Feature

The Return

Night Crow

River Incident

The Minimal

The Waking

The Lost Son

The Long Alley

A Field of Light

The Shape of the Fire

from Praise to the End! (1951)

Where Knock Is Open Wide

I Need, I Need

Praise to the End!

Unfold! Unfold!

I Cry, Love! Love!

from The Waking (1953)

O, Thou Opening, O

A Light Breather

Elegy for Jane

from Four for Sir John Davies: The Dance

The Waking

from Words for the Wind (1958)

Words for the Wind

I Knew a Woman

The Sententious Man

The Pure Fury

The Surly One

The Beast

A Walk in Late Summer

Snake

Slug

from Meditations of an Old Woman: First Meditation

from The Far Field (1964)

North American Sequence

The Longing

Meditation at Oyster River

Journey to the Interior

The Long Waters

The Far Field

The Rose

Elegy

Otto

The Meadow Mouse

Heard in a Violent Ward

The Geranium

The Storm

The Thing

In a Dark Time

The Sequel

The Right Thing

POEMS FOR CHILDREN

Dinky

The Cow

The Serpent

The Sloth

The Lady and the Bear

The Kitty-Cat Bird

The Whale

The Yak

The Donkey

The Hippo

The Lamb

The Lizard

FROM THE NOTEBOOKS

Biographical Note

Note on the Texts

Notes

Index of Titles and First Lines