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Theodore Roethke (1905-1963) grew up in Michigan and spent his early years enjoying the natural surroundings that had been created near his grandfather's greenhouses. He attended college and after graduation taught English at several universities. He was a popular lecturer, though suseptible to alcoholism and bouts of depression. Roethke's total output of poetry was minimal and his first book (Open House) was published in 1941, when Roethke was 36 years old. His collected works (Words for the Wind) appeared in 1959.

THE SLOTH

      The sloth is a sloth
      and moving slow
      he has no fear,
      you ask him something in his ear
      he thinks about it for a year

      And then before he says a word
      there upside down
      unlike a bird
      he will assume you will have heard

      A most exasperating lug
      but should you call his manner smug
      he'll sigh,
      and give his branch a hug
      then off again to sleep he goes
      still swaying gently by his toes
      and you just know
      he knows, he knows.


Theodore Roethke



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