Musings on Whitman

Continuing on the all-American theme, I'm currently thumbing through my copy of Walt Whitman's classic poetry anthology Leaves of Grass (1855). I'm going to perform at the JAC (for the first time in sixth months!) Thursday night, and instead of reading original material-- which I admittedly haven't written a whole lot of recently-- I've selected a few Whitman poems to read. The poems are: "I Hear America Singing (p. 35)," "For You O Democracy (p. 162)," "The Wound-Dresser (p. 389-92)," and "Long, too Long America (p. 393)." I think I'll discuss these poems-- and my return to the coffeeshop circuit-- in Friday's post. Whitman is the quintessential American poet, and his subject matter and themes are timeless.