My Papa’s Waltz The whiskey on your breath  Could make a small boy dizzy;  But I hung on like death:  Such waltzing was not easy.  We romped until the pans  Slid from the kitchen shelf;  My mother's countenance  Could not unfrown itself.  The hand that held my wrist  Was battered on one knuckle;  At every step you missed  My right ear scraped a buckle.  You beat time on my head  With a palm caked hard by dirt,  Then waltzed me off to bed  Still clinging to your shirt.

Nothing is true; everything is permitted.

…kinda

Let’s go to the comments…

I think Roethke's point was to make the reader think because depending on what you think the poems about the poem completely changes. I think the readers opinion is based on their outlook on life.

Part 1  While most of you make very valid points, I've studied Roethke's work for some time. I attended Arthur Hill High School just as he had, but not at the same time. I've been to his home and museum. Roethke's father was, yes, a drinker. But he was a sipper, meaning he had numerous bottles of beers and other alcoholic beverages in little compartments and pots around his garden/nursery. He didn't drink to hide his pain, but just to have the taste and relish the feeling of being slightly woozy.

Part 2 Roethke's family garden was behind his home, so when his father came inside from a hard days labor he was lightly inebriated. It had nothing to do with abuse, Roethke's father simply wanted to be with his children after work and dance. Of course, the mother was upset her kitchen turned upside down. As others have said before, the hand of the father was battered due to the work he does, no doubt calluses as well. But to incline that it had anything to do with abuse, is absurd…

See, to understand this poem u need to have a little bit acknowledgement of poet's history.Theodore Roethke lost his father at the age of 15 and was an inspiration for writing.His family had their own green house where his papa(father) used to work. 

To me, this poem definitely suggests abuse.

... This poem is actually not meant to have any dark or abusive meaning to it... In fact, it's supposed to mean the following: 

I don't know how this could possibly be anything other than abuse I don't know how this could possibly be anything other than abuse. The tone in the story is so dreary that it has to be abuse.

I think that the poem is actually a girl because it said that it could make a boy dizzy but not the speaker. I think that implies that the speaker is a girl.

When I read this poem I get the thought of an unpleased little boy who is unhappy with how much his dad drinks alcohol.

Part 1 This poem is not about abuse, but a childhood memory captured at a later time in life. Daddy, like most dads at the time probably worked in the new world of the industrial revolution, where most men worked six days a week,12 hours a day. Payday was usually Saturday night and most men stopped by their local bar on the way home to remove the grit of poor working conditions from their throats before going home to give their wives the rest of their wages.

Part 2 The mother of the poem isn't upset at the the roughness of the dance, but the truth of it being the day before the Sabbath. She has most likely spent her week cooking, cleaning and raising the children. Sunday is her only respite from the constant grueling work of her 12 hour day too. And now after the dance she must repurify the house for the holy day. As for the child, he is pleased to finally see his father after the long week and a whiskery whiskey dance is most likely the only true physical contact these two have. It is a true depiction of a shared realistic moment of joy.

The basis of an interpretation Evidence Probability Context

What should analysis do? Explain the text Use the text to explain a different idea The SAT is interested in the first level of meaning, explication.