After reading Leaves of Grass, I think I can confidently say that I'm not really a poetry guy. From what I read about him, Walt Whitman is supposed to be one of THE poets that you have to read. Maybe it's the way he writes, or what he writes about but it never quite hooked me.

The sentiment of this particular collection is endearing enough. All people no matter how big or small are connected and equal. An upright and aspirational idea to be sure but it devolves into a constant barrage of lists. Lists of different kinds of people. Lists of the tools those people apply to their trades. Lists describing the young, the old, the mobile, the immobile, the rich, the poor, the free, the enslaved, the English, the Mexican, the European... and on and on. For most of these lists my brain would just fizzle off as I read them. Then I wondered "Am I reading this wrong? Am I too dumb to "get this"?" The answer might be yes. At least now I can say I gave it an honest guess go.

There is a lot in here that I'm sure the mind of a more educated man would find appealing. Or draw great depth from. I liked the sentiment of the book itself but didn't care much for how it was written. Perhaps poetry is simply a tool to be used by writers as a means to write? Who am I to discredit that? Still, not much fun moment to moment.