Reading Whitman on Election Day

Had other things I was going to do this morning but I when found myself reading Leaves of Grass again everything else faded into the background.

I started reading Leaves some weeks ago, all the way through from the first page — yes, a somewhat daunting project. I knew I wanted to get at least as far as his Civil War poems. Inspired in that by the Ken Burns documentary series on the Civil War which stunned me (the victory being so far from certain and the price paid so high!).

So here I am on election day 2022 and the democracy that’s been fought for for so long is once again under attack. And I’ve finished reading Drum Taps and Memories of President Lincoln, his collected Civil War poems, and today launched into By Blue Ontario’s Shore, where he’s singing the praises of democracy victorious (the enemy forever vanquished).

Others take finish, but the Republic is ever constructive and ever keeps vista,

Others adorn the past, but you O days of the present, I adorn you,

O days of the future I believe in you—I isolate myself for your sake,

O America because you build for mankind I build for you,

O well-beloved stone-cutters, I lead them who plan with decision and science,

Lead the present with friendly hand toward the future.

With that stanza I had to stop. Felt too incongruous, inappropriate even, to the day. Better to just pause and reflect. Reflect on the long line of wars, the nonviolent struggles, the suffering and sacrifices.

Whitman so wanted to hold us up as special, as products of a land sanctified by its natural beauty and abundance. He painted us a vision that sparkled with optimism and hope, with honest work, with intellect and compassion. That was his mission and he accomplished in a way—with poems like songs, like anthems—that had never been seen and that modeled the kind of earthy, uninhibited uniqueness that he wanted to inspire in us all.

He didn’t know what we know today about trauma, about the life-long effects of the baggage hidden deep within the psyches and bodies of our ancestors and ourselves. Didn’t know what we’ve learned about what it takes to create mature humans healthy in mind, body, and soul. He could not have foreseen the challenges and the long road ahead for democracy and equality, for true compassion and healing.

So here we are, still on that road. And I thank Walt for all he offered with his sonorous yawping. I will continue to reflect, to learn from history, and continue the work of simply going forward with presence, persistence, and good will. And after nearly 300 small-print pages, I’ll put Leaves of Grass aside for now and replace it with Wendell Berry, or maybe Mary Oliver.