21 Comments
User's avatar
Julie Sunderland's avatar

I’m naked to the bone,

With nakedness my shield.

Myself is what I wear:

I keep the spirit spare.

My mother had this quote pinned up in my childhood home. I didn’t know where it came from. Thank you for allowing me to find my way to the full poem.

Expand full comment
Mary Roblyn's avatar

Roethke speaks to me on the deepest level. Here is one example of that.

Expand full comment
Paul Wittenberger's avatar

Roethke is a wonderful American poet. The Far Field collection is timeless.

Expand full comment
Bliss Grey's avatar

Timeless, that is a powerful word

Expand full comment
David Picariello's avatar

To reach the depths of despair and find one's truth yet lives.

Expand full comment
Clement Charles's avatar

This is one great poem!!! Thank you!

Expand full comment
Bliss Grey's avatar

Yes

Expand full comment
Elliot Lessing's avatar

What a terrific Wyeth!

Expand full comment
Leon Brown, Jr.'s avatar

Almost too powerful, too spare, for words…..

Deeply moving.

Expand full comment
Sarah Nathan's avatar

Investment always pays off!

Love never gives up! Love always hopes!

Don’t be a quitter!

Expand full comment
Sarah's avatar

Love it.

Expand full comment
David Picariello's avatar

Best wishes to all my comrades in arms. Dave pi 3.14

Expand full comment
Viola Weinhold's avatar

My truths are all foreknown. I can feel the pain of this and simultaneously, the comfort and consolation. Beautiful.

Expand full comment
Bliss Grey's avatar

Can it be that simple,hat a writer is an open book? You are an inspiration. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Joe's avatar

I believe to be read as a writer is to open the self to the breeze and winds of the world around and within the self. Opening the self within is probably a more vital aspect?

Expand full comment
Bliss Grey's avatar

Yes.

Expand full comment
eye mount vale's avatar

The virtuosity of Voila

Expand full comment
eye mount vale's avatar

Lovely

Expand full comment
Martin Mc Carthy's avatar

I'm not quite sure what this poem means, but my sense of it is that Roethke is actually talking about what it means to be a poet and a public figure whose utterances are like a house that is open for all to see and that he is not entirely happy with this situation. Am I wrong in interpreting it this way?

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Jun 4, 2024
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Martin Mc Carthy's avatar

Thank you, Jon. You are probably right.

Expand full comment
Thomas Molitor's avatar

body metaphor

par excellence.

Expand full comment