On the 4th is the picnic/Walt Whitman reading at Crocker Park, hosted by Art and Christina Mantecon to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the publication of Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Picnic starts at 3, reading from 4-6pm: many local poets of note will read from Whitman's works. Free; bring food, drink, blankets to sit on; no fireworks or booze. Here are three Whitman gems:
THE DALLIANCE OF THE EAGLES
Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)
Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,
The rushing amorous contact high in space together,
The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,
Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass right grappling,
In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,
Till o'er the river pois'd, the twain yet one, a moment's lull,
A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,
Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight,
She hers, he his, pursuing.
THE SHIP STARTING
Lo, the unbounded sea,
On its breast a ship starting, spreading all sails, carrying even her moonsails,
The pennant is flying aloft as she speeds she speeds so stately—
below emulous waves press forward.
They surround the ship with shining curving motions and foam.
A PRAIRIE SUNSET
Shot gold, maroon and violet, dazzling silver, emerald, fawn,
The earth's whole amplitude and Nature's multiform power
consigned for once to colors;
The light, the general air posses'd by them—colors till now unknown,
No limit, confine—not the Western sky alone—the high meridian—North,
South, all,
Pure luminous color fighting the silent shadows to the last.
_____________________
Dude could write, yes?
—Medusa