Sunday, October 12, 2008

Open House

This is a well-known Theodore Roethke poem, that I find interesting to place within the contexts of identity, being-known, and disembodiment.

Open House
by Theodore Roethke

My secrets cry aloud.
I have no need for tongue.
My heart keeps open house,
My doors are widely swung.
An epic of the eyes
My love, with no disguise.

My truths are all foreknown,
This anguish self-revealed.
I'm naked to the bone,
With nakedness my shield.
Myself is what I wear:
I keep the spirit spare.

The anger will endure,
The deed will speak the truth
In language strict and pure.
I stop the lying mouth:
Rage warps my clearest cry
To witless agony.
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1 comment:

  1. AmandaOctober 16, 2008 at 10:06 PM

    I love that line--"Myself is what I wear."

    Remember that picture I brought to one of the first workshops--of Paris Hilton wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Paris Hilton?

    I know I'm taking this line out of context of the poem--Roethke clearly was not referencing the cultural phenomena where a person is famous for being famous, themselves a brand.

    Still. "Myself is what I wear."

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