[Walt Whitman, 1863 - Photograph by Alexander Gardner - Alderman Library, University of Virginia]
[Leaves of Grass, 1855 - courtesy The Walt Whitman Archive]
Walt Whitman's Birthday Today.
We celebrate with an eager young Whitmaniac,Steve Roggenbuck reading, as his You Tube tape boldly announces, "one hour and fifteen minutes of Walt Whitman's poetry" - "I read the entire text of "i love you, before long i die - a walt whitman mixtape"
"This is all my favorite Walt Whitman in one book. Sometimes it's cut up in ways that other Whitman books wouldn't cut it up. I sometimes took my favorite poem, my favorite section of a poem, my favorite stanza sometimes. So, it's in a different order than you might find in other places but this is all credited to Walt Whitman and is my favorite Walt Whitman stuff'
Previous Whitman salutes on the Allen Ginsberg Project include here and here and here