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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
FOR WALT WHITMAN, by DAVID IGNATOW Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: I cannot read you
Last Line: The boss?
Subject(s): Life; Poetry & Poets; Whitman, Walt (1819-1891)
First Line: I cannot read you
Last Line: The boss?
Subject(s): Life; Poetry & Poets; Whitman, Walt (1819-1891)
I cannot read you
without feeling my life
betrays you. I set you
aside with disdain
for you make a big thing
of existence when I know
it is simply the dropping
of a token into the slot
and of riding downtown
in the subway.
How would you like
to be pushed out
by your camerados
all getting off with you
at your stop and rushing
to have their coffee
first before facing
the boss?
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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ODE TO WALT WHITMAN by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET
TWO RAMAGES FOR OLD MASTERS by ROBERT BLY
QUIRKS: 2. THAT AFTERNOON I REMEMBERED by JOHN CIARDI
READING WALT WHITMAN by CALVIN FORBES
WAITING INSIDE by DAVID IGNATOW
WALT WHITMAN IN THE CIVIL WAR HOSPITALS by DAVID IGNATOW
METAMORPHOSES: 3. PERSEUS (WALT WHITMAN) by WAYNE KOESTENBAUM