Visiting Walt: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Walt Whitman

Foreword by Ed Folsom xi 
Expecting the Main Things xiii 
Sherman Alexie           Defending Walt Whitman 1
Eugenio de Andrade       Walt Whitman and the Birds 3
Aliki Barnstone          Wild With It 4
Tony Barnstone           Hair of the Field 6
Willis Barnstone         Jiang Yuying, Famous Professor at Beijing
  University, Who Daringly Rendered into Chinese the First Complete Walt Whitman 9
Marvin Bell              Whitman's Grass 11
Joe Benevento            May 31, 1989 13
Ted Berrigan             Whitman in Black 15
John Berryman            Despair 16
Robert Bly               This Night: For Walt Whitman 17
Jorge Luis Borges        Camden, 1892 18
Michael Dennis Browne    Your Sister 19 
Joseph Bruchac           Canticle 20
Edward Byrne             Early Evening 21
Thomas Centolella        Small Acts 23
Nicholas Christopher     Walt Whitman at the Reburial of Poe 25
David Citino             Walt Whitman in New Orleans, 1848 27
Jonathan Cohen           Walt Whitman in Ohio 28
Gillian Conoley          Walt Whitman in the Car Lot, Repo or Used 29
David Cope               Labor Day 31
Bruce Cutler             February 12, 1865 32
Philip Dacey             Whitman: The Wall 34
Toi Derricotte           Whitman, Come Again to the Cities 35
W. S. Di Piero           Walt, the Wounded 36
Mark Doty                Letter to Walt Whitman 39




Richard Eberhart         Centennial for Whitman 49
Lynn Emanuel             Walt, I Salute You! 53
Martin Espada            Another Nameless Prostitute Says the Man Is Innocent 55
Dave Etter               Green-Eyed Boy after Reading Whitman and Sandburg 57
Richard Fein             To Walt Whitman 58
Lawrence Ferlinghetti    Poem for Old Walt 62
Calvin Forbes            Reading Walt Whitman 63
Randall Freisinger       Walt Whitman at Timber Creek 64
Daisy Fried              A Story Having to Do with Walt Whitman 66
Thomas Gannon            Meeting the Master 68
Suzanne Gardinier        Memorials 69
Allen Ginsberg           I Love Old Whitman So 70
Jesse Glass              Lecturing on Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson in China 71
Patricia Goediclce       For Walt Whitman 73
Albert Goldbarth         The Poem of the Praises 75
Beckian Fritz Goldberg   Whitman's Confession: In the Cleft of Eternity 79
David Graham             The Varied Carol 81
Matthew Graham           Matthew Brady Speaks ofWhitman 83
Jim Harrison             Ghazal XXXIX 84
William Heyen            Bread 85
Edward Hirsch            Whitman Leaves the Boardwalk 87
Daniel Hoffman           Crossing Walt Whitman Bridge 88
Edwin Honig              [Walt Whitman] 91
Paul Hoover              Whitman in a Corner 92
Langston Hughes          Old Walt 94
T. R. Hummer             Walt Whitman in Hell 95
David Ignatow            Walt Whitman in the Civil War Hospitals inI
Gray Jacobik             Under the Sign of Walt Whitman 112
Juan Ram6n Jim6nez       Walt Whitman 113




Erica Jong               Testament (Or, Homage to Walt Whitman) 114
John Judson              Whitman Again 119
Yusef Komunyakaa          Kosmos 120
Steve Kowit              A Whitman Portrait 123
Norbert Krapf            A Civil War Veteran from Indiana Recalls
                         Visiting with Walt Whitman in a Washington Hospital 125
Mark Kraushaar           Dear Mr. Whitman, 128
Philip Levine            I Sing the Body Electric I30
Larry Levis              Whitman 132
Federico Garcia Lorca    Ode to Walt Whitman 134 
Thomas Lux               Walt Whitman's Brain Dropped on Laboratory Floor 139
David Mason              A Whit for Whitman 140
Lynne McMahon            Hopkins and Whitman 141
Gary Miranda             Second-Born Son: Lines for Walt Whitman Composed on Nantucket Island 143
Roger Mitchell           To Walt Whitman on America's Birthday 146
Judith Moffett           Reaching Around 148
Stanley Moss             Postcard to Walt Whitman from Siena 154
Howard Nelson            Reading "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" on a Summer Morning 155
Howard Nemerov           A Modern Poet I56
Pablo Neruda             Ode to Walt Whitman 157
Sharon Olds              Nurse Whitman 162
Anthony Piccione         With Whitman at the Friendship Hotel 163
Stanley Plumly           Readingwith the Poets 164
Ezra Pound               A Pact 166
Edwin Arlington Robinson  Walt Whitman 167 
Larry Rottmann           A Porter on the Trail 168
Ira Sadoff               Against Whitman 170
Terrence Savoie          Reading Whitman's Democratic Vistas 171
James Schevill           Whitman Stock-Taking, Cataloguing 173




Shane Seely              Walt Whitman at the Irish Festival, Syracuse, New York: Four Snapshots 175 
Robert B. Shaw           Last Days in Camden 176
Louis Simpson            Walt Whitman at Bear Mountain 183
Floyd Skloot             Whitman Pinch Hits, 1861 185
Dave Smith               With Walt Whitman at Fredericksburg 187
George Jay Smith         When Helen Keller Spoke 189
William Stafford         For You, Walt Whitman 189
Gerald Stern             from "Hot Dog" 192
Tim Suermondt            Briefly Eavesdropping on Walt Whitman, Virginia, 1863 196
Phil Tabakow             Walt Whitman at Pfaff's: A Fantasy 197
Eric Torgersen           An Apple from Walt Whitman 198
David Wagoner            Walt Whitman Bathing 199
Diane Wakoski            For Whitman 200
Anne Waldman             On Walt Whitman's Birthday 201
Theodore Weiss           The Good Grey Poet 202
Gall White               Walt Whitman Encounters the Cosmos with the Cats of New York 205
Wang Yin                 Walt Whitman 206
Jake Adam York           Walt Whitman in Alabama 207
Notes on Contributors 211
Permissions 225
Index to Titles 233