My Papa's Waltz; The Real Meaning

 The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy know

That as I hung on in fear death

Your waltz was but a show

You romped until the pain

Gradually made me numb

Such mad mindless torture

Thanks to a drink like rum

The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one side

Each time you threw your fist

My helpless body cried

You beat time from my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt

Then walked away from my bed

As I writhed from all the hurt

 Though this rendition of Roethke's poem is a little on the savage side, I believe it does justice in expressing the other, darker side of the original poem. Roethke depended on irony to hint at the less than favorable position of the young boy, using a nursery rhyme style and detailing the father's drunken waltz as a sort of horseplay between the two. However, my concoction is more literal, and it represents the aftermath of the father's drunk stupor. The waltz between the father and son is quite rough and unorderly, but nevertheless the boy hangs on "like death" because he knows that this is the best possible behaviour from his father. It is subtly implied with phrases like "battered on one knuckle" and "beat time on my head" that in most instances where the father has had a lot of alcohol, violence towards the boy tends to follow. All in all, my version is simply the reflection of Roethke's; Still the same situation, just the darker, more horrid side.

Wow... I'm Free. Cool :)

 Had this been a more strict, formatted project for which I was obliged to obey rules and limitations with my writing, the following would probably have turned out to be more orderly. However, having been given free reign over what I write about, how much I write and what my writing style is to be, I believe that I will quickly grasp the concept of blogging and hence express my thoughts and views creatively on what we have read in class. But in any case... Its about time for me to move onto the blogging itself, and rest assured, my compositions will not be as failing to meet the minimum 250 words. Or maybe I've already reached 250, who knows? Either way, this doesn't count as my first post. Just a prologue, if you will. Later!