I remember reading Whitman’s Leaves of Grass in college and thinking “What is this dude even talking about?? Why does he love listing things?” Now, I have so much more appreciation for his work! The language isn’t actually as flowery and metaphorical as I thought before. He really gets to his point from the opening stanza. We are all one, all one shared experience, just living in these separate, rented bodies. Which are miracles in their own right! I love Whitman’s insistence on “and” rather than “or.” We are not alive or dead, we are both at the same time. We can be both maternal and paternal, light and dark, part of nature and also part of the human experience. I actually found his lists now to be quite informative to what life was like in 1850’s America. If you’re in the mood for some enlightening poetry, check this one out!