ONE
MANY
NAVIGATION
If the Atlantic coast stretch, or the Pacific coast
stretch, he stretching with them north or south,
Spanning between them east and west, and touch-
ing whatever is between them,
Growths growing from him to offset the growth of
pine, cedar, hemlock, live-oak, locust, chest-
nut, cypress, hickory, lime-tree, cotton-wood,
tulip-tree, cactus, tamarind, orange, magnolia,
persimmon,
Tangles as tangled in him as any cane-brake or
swamp,
He likening sides and peaks of mountains, forests
coated with transparent ice, and icicles hang-
ing from the boughs,
Off him pasturage sweet and natural as savannah,
upland, prairie,
Through him flights, songs, screams, answering
those of the wild-pigeon, high-hold, orchard-
oriole, coot, surf-duck, red-shouldered-hawk,
fish-hawk, white-ibis, indian-hen, cat-owl,
water-pheasant, qua-bird, pied-sheldrake,
mocking-bird, buzzard, condor, night-heron,
eagle;
His spirit surrounding his country’s spirit, unclosed
to good and evil,
Surrounding the essences of real things, old times
and present times
-from Leaves of Grass (1856), p185, excerpt from “8 — Poem of Many In One.” by Walt Whitman, from The Walt Whitman Archive
I think it must be time to pull Mr. Whitman off the bookshelf and immerse myself in Leaves of Grass. It’s been way too long.
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Bo, I bought Leaves of Grass used a few years ago. Tried at that time to complete it. Ended up trying again. I’m finding I like to take it slow, small bites at a time. It’s like stream of consciousness, almost like it was channeled. If you end up reading it, I’d be interested to know what you think. I really love his list of names of things, details. He also writes of the politics of the time, intersperses them between the lines. Abe Lincoln and shades of Civil War. It’s a wild ride.
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Love that sense of pulling back and seeing the forest from the trees. (Is that the saying?)
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I think it’s something like that. I was just about to log off. I realized tonight when the clock was pushing past Midnight that I’m such a Nightowl. I think it’s the way I get space. Nothing is moving, nothing stirring. Most of the outside world is sleeping. But there’s this whole underground of people that stay up late. It’s a strange current, the kind that produces posts like this. Quirks and all.
ybonesy, have you read Leaves of Grass? It makes me want to read more about Whitman. The way I used to read about Thoreau. Did I tell you I once visited Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond. Where would I visit for Whitman? I’ll have to check that out. More than the writers themselves, it’s their ideas. Ideas are powerful.
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QM, Whitman is from New York state. His birthplace is in Huntington Station, there’s a historic site there as well as the home.
http://www.waltwhitman.org/
And there’s another home from his later years, one I’ve driven past but it was closed at the time. It’s in Camden NJ. It’s open to the public, I was just there at the wrong time.
I did read a bit of Leaves of Grass yesterday, as I had hoped. But then I got distracted by a spider on a lily and got my camera out. Ooops! 🙂
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Love the photos. Walt would, too. Especially that you were out in nature.
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Bo, thanks so much for the info. NJ and NY. I’m not likely to be visiting those states anytime soon. Maybe someday though. I used to travel the Northeast more than I do now. When I do have time to travel, I tend to head a little further south to Pennsylvania to see immediate family. Or travel with Mom to Georgia and South Carolina. I rarely get up that far North. I’ve been hankering (isn’t that a great old word?) to get back to the Northwest lately. I know you just came from there. You did a lot of traveling this year. I want to visit Montana again and take Liz along. Maybe then head over to Oregon. New travel goals. When that will happen, I’m not sure.
I’m glad you took some downtime to read Leaves of Grass. Can totally understand the draw to photograph the spider. I am driven to pick up my camera, too. Summer seems like a good time to photograph. It’s been a lush, hot, humid, beautiful green one in Minnesota. I’m liking this Summer!
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