Friday, October 13, 2017

Poetry Friday -- Walt Whitman


Unsplash photo by Echo Grid


First this:

Poetry Ruined My Life
From the essay: 
I still have the Leaves of Grass that dad gave me for Christmas in ninth grade. “Whitman loved much that you love—beauty, openness, honesty, freedom, nature. Inside here is his “Song of the Open Road.” You are entering your open road years. Demand much of them; give them fully of yourself and you will have come to terms with being.”
Then, this:

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (INCIDENTAL COMICS)


And some more Walt Whitman on Zen Pencils, just for good measure.



Irene has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Live Your Poem.

12 comments:

  1. "Demand much of them" - I like that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This quote from Billy Collins in "Poetry Ruined My Life": "The history of poetry is the only surviving history we have of human emotion. It is the history of the human heart. There is no other one. Without poetry, we would be deprived of the emotional companionship of our ancestors.” !!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Walt Whitman comics -- who knew? So cool.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love, love, love this! Walt Whitman comments to "Poetry Ruined My Life"--so much in this essay that I relate to.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My comment disappeared. If you find it, delete because it was in mid-comment! Umm. . . The inscription from your father is so sweet, Mary Lee. Much is written of Whitman, and much imitated, like your other funny links. New to me, but terrific. I think we must all be touched by this poet, no matter the way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Disappearing comments happen to me sometimes on Blogger, too!

      I edited the post so that it would be clear that the quote comes from the essay -- that isn't an inscription from MY father! (I wish!!)

      Delete
  6. Pondering "I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars" with a smile on my face.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very fun post, Mary!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aw, this is sweet. May our open road days never end.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh no...I think there's a rabbit trail ahead. About to click on all your links!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous7:59 PM

    That's a pretty amazing inscription! So much heart in it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. So glad Walt Whitman wrote "Leaves of Grass," for all of us, a truly wonderful poem to ruin our lives!Funny comic too, thanks Mary Lee!

    ReplyDelete

Comment moderation is turned on.