Open mic, poetry cartel, midtown scholar, Farewell to June.

June 27-- tonight's the night-- Poetry Thursdays' close-out open mic
for the end of June. Last week's gig was great. Spicy, Brown.
Hot. Why not croon one more verse before the 4th of July?
Everything's waiting for you. Midtown Scholar, 7 to 9pm.

On Walt Whitman's Birthday

'

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars,
And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg
of the wren,
And the tree-toad is a chef-d'oeuvre for the highest,
And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven,
And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,
And the cow crunching with depress'd head surpasses any statue,
And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels."

an excerpt from Song of Myself

--Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819–March 26, 1892).

Whitman bicentennial events about. On June 13 at 8:03pm, Harrisburg poets plan to
"Walk Like Walt" through midtown. The staging area will be at Third & Verbeke, southside,
Poetry Cartel members will advise and counsel.

       

W.B. Keckler on Whitman: 

"Free verse personified. What can be said or confessed fast-forwarded a century or so. 
The ability to warp language so perfectly that 'I sing the body electric' sounds like 
perfectly fine English, and not even stilted.... visionary."

https://www.scribd.com/document/430217/Who-Were-the-Most-Innovative-Poets-in-History

.