A New Kind of Poet



On this day in eighteen hundred nineteen

Walt Whitman first arrived on the scene

Born to a carpenter - the second of nine

It'd be a while before he wrote his rhyme



Apprenticed as a printer after finishing school

He turned to teaching, abandoning printing tools

Then he was the editor of Huntington's paper

The Long Islander was for two years his creation



And then he gave it up and returned to the city

Where he edited the Brooklyn Eagle (also pithy)

For his anti-slavery beliefs and political leanings

Lost him that one, too ... so he packed in teaming



And for the next several years - built some houses

Until his need to write took over, and he espouses

His political views in many editions of his new work

... Leaves of Grass - would become Whitman's shirt



Changing it frequently over the next forty-odd years

As he released updated versions, including tears ...

Shed ... for the assassination of President Lincoln

And many works which'd become esteemed, too 



Including O Captain, My Captain - for the fallen man

Passage to India - a highly-symbolic and spirited plan

To unite East and West through communications ...

(A premonition of the future interleaving of nations)



And evolving into the essays of Democratic Vistas ...

Which outlines the theory (possibilities administered)

His works have now been compiled into book sets

One with sixteen volumes, another with five, to whet



... The appetites of minds hungry for more Walt ...

Perhaps, the foremost American poet to exalt ...

For, although his works typified nineteenth century thought ...

His way with words is an experience which cannot be bought ...



- Tristram



© Christopher W. Thomas

3:45pm Memorial Day '99