Sections 11 & 12 – “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” by Walt Whitman

Sections 11 & 12 – “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” by Walt Whitman

This reading continues the majestic sequence “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” from Walt Whitman’s incomparable Leaves of Grass, covering sections 11 & 12. Leaves of Grass editor Karen Karbiener notes about “By Blue Ontario’s Shore”: “From its first appearance in 1856, this poem has functioned as Whitman’s definitive social statement. In 1856 it constituted a broad directive for how the country might be unified; the poem echoed many of the commands of the Preface, and actually used or modified many of its most powerful statements.”

Sections 8-10 – “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” by Walt Whitman

A message from the past: We interrupt the regularly scheduled eternity for a message from Walt Whitman, the poet of America, who considered his book to be America itself. Hundreds of millions of citizens and immigrants all together the leaves of this grass, the growth and maintenance of these States, this vast lawn of a constitutional republic. Speak to me Walt Whitman, deliver to me your vision of America. Chant and enumerate it, and like a spell spoken we will recover it, magically the psyche of the nation will return to itself, as a dangerous power play against American priniples falls of its own devices. Yes, they will fall of their own devices, and this verse will embrace the protectors of America, the uniters of America. Walt Whitman was the original bard and uniter of America, and so as bards we must sing these songs and keep them alive. Maybe you don’t like my style – I completely understand. I would like to hear how Leaves of Grass sounds to you, I’d like to hear your voice too speak them. Why is there no national Whitman reading club org? Should I be in charge of it? There is the Walt Whitman archive, which strains to organize all the different drafts and iterations of Leaves of Grass (https://whitmanarchive.org [https://whitmanarchive.org]). But this all so texty, I want the living soul of it too, for the voice is the body of the soul, and so with Leaves of Grass, and the body of this text. Isn’t there an academic somewhere undertaking this spoken word Whitman project? Or is Whitman not the poet of America? Is Whitman not important enough for that? Contact me Hollywood insiders if you are interested in producing my pilot screenplay and treatment for a mini-series about Whitman.

“Over The Carnage Rose Prophetic A Voice” by Walt Whitman

We’re in a constitutional crisis and I need Walt Whitman right now. In this episode I take a break from reading “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” to become possessed by a barking, chanting, deliberate spirit of Whitman, who arrives as a voice from the past to tell us how from over the carnage will rise prophetic a voice. And Whitman knew carnage, as we will hear in the second half of my reading of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore.” [https://anarcho-spiritualism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/leaves-of-grass-april-9-2025-1.jpg?w=1024]

Sections 4-6 “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” by Walt Whitman

Part two of my reading of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” by Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass editor Karen Karbiener notes about the sequence “By Blue Ontario’s Shore”: “From its first appearance in 1856, this poem has functioned as Whitman’s definitive social statement. In 1856 it constituted a broad directive for how the country might be unified; the poem echoed many of the commands of the Preface, and actually used or modified many of its most powerful statements.” [https://anarcho-spiritualism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/leaves-of-grass-april-9-2025.jpg?w=1024]

“By Blue Ontario’s Shore” by Walt Whitman

I return to my first love and my last love, the poem of America, the incomparable Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. This post covers sections one through three, Leaves of Grass Deathbed Edition.