Words to Ponder #26
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Words to Ponder #26

03 May Words to Ponder #26

Posted at 13:51h in Culture, What's New, Words to Ponder by

A little Walt Whitman for early Spring, 2017

“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.” (From the Preface to Leaves of Grass)

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9 Comments
  • Lonny Meinecke
    Posted at 20:44h, 04 May

    Thank you Marian for mentioning me 🙂
    This was such a neat share Lois – am so glad you posted this Words to Ponder
    Lonny

  • Marian Rich
    Posted at 15:06h, 04 May

    Beautiful! Thank you for posting, Lois. What a poet! And thanks to Lonny for the comment about applause! – yes!!

  • Cathy Salit
    Posted at 13:59h, 04 May

    A rejuvenating post! Thank you.

  • Lonny Meinecke
    Posted at 01:47h, 04 May

    🙂

  • loisholzman
    Posted at 00:49h, 04 May

    Applause—I love that!

  • Lonny Meinecke
    Posted at 00:30h, 04 May

    Thanks Lois! Very much agreed – as with Whitman and so many others who have said (so well) what we all wish we could have said – although words are no substitute, we can’t help but say something, and having said it, something “more” is here. Sometimes I think words are more like applause for the natural performances we are fortunate to witness… and the applause becomes part of the performance.
    –Lonny

  • loisholzman
    Posted at 23:44h, 03 May

    Thanks, Lonny
    Words are no substitute, just sometimes they create a new beauty.

  • Lonny Meinecke
    Posted at 22:54h, 03 May

    I really love this! Especially: “your very flesh shall be a great poem”. Some things cannot be said better than nature has already said them… sometimes, all we can do is gasp, yet everybody seems to know exactly what we meant…
    Lonny

  • Philip J. Malebranche
    Posted at 18:33h, 03 May

    Walt Whitman’s words, here, are Christic. Jesus of Nazareth is one of history’s notable iconoclasts. To paint Jesus in any other way is disingenuous and suspect. If one studies his interactions with persons in power, one would be surprised and impressed. His relationships with the oppressed and the rejected ones are also challenging to us. Jesus was likely an appealing figure to Walt Whitman.

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