My Boy Theo

I can relate to Roethke's poem twofold really. The obvious relation being the cherished moments that we all had in our childhoods of dancing around with our fathers, not unusually on their feet, when they were home from work. So this poem does have the sentimental taint of memory attached to it, but it also holds an ideal for the future. I hope to someday be this father for my children, a father who works hard, "palms caked hard with dirt", to support his family and still comes home with the energy to be fun. I like the image of the disdainful mother disapproving of her two boy's cavorting about the house. I want to be the dad who is still young enough to be a kid with his kids.
I think that the significance of the waltz being used instead of the term dance is the connotation the waltz has with Europe and the old life. Roethke was born in Michigan at the turn of the century so it is very probable that his father was a poor immigrant; this analysis would be consistent with his workplace wear and tear and the whiskey on his breath. I would most definitely say that this relationship is not abusive, the boy "holds on like death" only because he wants to be with his father who quite obviously works and drinks very late so he doesn't see often. The violence of the pots and pans crashing as a result of their dance may be because the father has had too much to drink, but he cares enough about his son to come home and make an effort to play with him.