The Minimal

Theodore Roethke

I study the lives on a leaf: the little
Sleepers, numb nudgers in cold dimensions,
Beetles in caves, newts, stone-deaf fishes,
Lice tethered to long limp subterranean weeds,
Squirmers in bogs,
And bacterial creepers
Wriggling through wounds
Like elvers in ponds,
Their wan mouths kissing the warm sutures,
Cleaning and caressing,
Creeping and healing.

Next 10 Poems

• Theodore Roethke : The Reckoning
• Theodore Roethke : The Return
• Theodore Roethke : The Saginaw Song
• Theodore Roethke : The Sloth
• Theodore Roethke : The Storm
• Theodore Roethke : The Survivor
• Theodore Roethke : The Waking
• Isaac Rosenberg : Break Of Day In The Trenches
• Isaac Rosenberg : Dead Man's Dump
• Isaac Rosenberg : God

Previous 10 Poems

• Theodore Roethke : The Geranium
• Theodore Roethke : The Far Field
• Theodore Roethke : Snake
• Theodore Roethke : Root Cellar
• Theodore Roethke : Pickle Belt
• Theodore Roethke : Night Journey
• Theodore Roethke : My Papa's Waltz
• Theodore Roethke : Journey Into The Interior
• Theodore Roethke : In A Dark Time
• Theodore Roethke : I Knew A Woman