I know the purity of pure despair, My shadow pinned against… - Theodore Roethke

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I know the purity of pure despair,
My shadow pinned against a sweating wall.
That place among the rocks — is it a cave,
Or winding path? The edge is what I have. — Theodore Roethke, from “In a Dark Time,” The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke. (Anchor Books January 10, 1975) Originally published 1961.

Theodore Roethke

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About Theodore Roethke

Theodore Huebner Roethke (IPA: ['ɹ ɛ t.ki]; RET-key) (25 May 1908 – 1 August 1963) was an American poet who published several volumes of poetry characterized by their rhythm and natural imagery. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book, The Waking.

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Denise Levertov William Butler Yeats Emily Dickinson Robert Frost Richard Wilbur

Additional quotes by Theodore Roethke

I wake to sleep and take my waking slow. I learn by going where I have to go.
The Waking

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

I feel her presence in the common day,
In that slow dark that widens every eye.
She moves as water moves, and comes to me,
Stayed by what was, and pulled by what would be.

from “She

I know the purity of pure despair, My shadow pinned against a sweating wall. That place among the rocks — is it a cave, Or winding path? The edge is … - Theodore Roethke

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