Children often become so wrapped up in their own tasks and obligations that they take for granted the simple acts of loving support given to them by their family and relatives. Many times this causes families to have problems communicating. Communication between children and relatives doesn't just happen over night; you must learn to establish a connection. Good communication can make or break a relationship. The following poems, "My Papa's Waltz," "Those Winter Sundays," and "Legacies," attempt to touch on the issue of "connection". In "My Papa's Waltz" and "Those Winter Sundays," the narrators reflect back on the memories of their boyhood relationship with their father. The experiences related are very similar because of the father's ability to communicate with his son physically, rather than verbally. The narrator of "Legacies" focuses on her reliance on her grandmother and emphasizes the importance of family traditions. Even though the three poems are composed and read very differently, the underlying message conveyed is the same, and each are valid first-hand accounts of "connections" between families.
             "My Papa's Waltz," by Theodore Roethke, shows a connection between a father and son during a rambunctious dance scene. Roethke's poem gives a voice to the often silent internal conflict that the children of addicts struggle with. The first stanzas of the poem convey the festive mood of the domestic scene. As if giddy from alcohol on his father's breath, the narrator describes the mayhem of their "romp." Roethke sets a tone of both pain and loyalty with the line, "But I hung on like death: Such waltzing was not easy" (Roethke 3-4). "My Papa's Waltz" provides readers with the opportunity to see life through the eyes of the boy, dictated by his father's drun...