One of my favorite quotes from literature comes from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”: “Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” This is a snippet of a sprawling poem exploring the interconnectedness of our world. (Thread) - ThreadSky

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social • 5 days ago

One of my favorite quotes from literature comes from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”:
“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then, I contradict myself.
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
This is a snippet of a sprawling poem exploring the interconnectedness of our world. (Thread)

Comments

zymplex.bsky.social•5 days ago

Love that quote! Love Walt Whitman! My mother would read me his poetry before I could read myself.

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social•5 days ago

Whitman was the first poet who made me love poetry. Kudos to your mom on her reading choices!

zymplex.bsky.social•5 days ago

I grew up in South Jersey, and he lived in Camden, I believe. He was legend in the area.

kslatteryresist.bsky.social•5 days ago

Walt Whitman is one of my favorite poets.

https://whitmanarchive.org/item/ppp.01663_01855

ronikmarci.bsky.social•4 days ago

Love this. And lilacs are my favorite flower. Took this in Central Park several years ago. Didn’t notice the butterfly (another fav) until I enlarged the photo. 💜

kslatteryresist.bsky.social•4 days ago

Love lilacs. The poem about the entire USA mourning Lincoln’s death, his coffin traveled from town to town, captures a significant moment in our history.

ronikmarci.bsky.social•4 days ago

💜

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social•5 days ago

Mine too; I’ve always connected to his work.

richnelson.bsky.social•4 days ago

Been a while since I read leaves of grass, used to keep a copy in the bathroom (black flag) now I just have my phone.

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social•4 days ago

It resonated for me the first time, but it grew for me over time too.

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social•5 days ago

Those in my generation grew up with a similar message from John Hughes, delivered through The Breakfast Club. The point: every one of us is connected to and through everyone else. Focusing on the surface differences, and dividing and squabbling over them, holds us back.

floofmcgoof.bsky.social•5 days ago

coltranehendrix.bsky.social•5 days ago

And these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds, are immune to your consultations, they’re quite aware of what they’re goin’ through.

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social•5 days ago

Now this isn’t a kumbaya message here, entirely. Because every day, we see politicians working to divide us. Current pushes from the right to dismantle the safety net and public education, to create and elevate competing sets of facts, are all meant to sever our connections.

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social•5 days ago

In these moments, forces are pushing Yeats’ prophetic poem “The Second Coming” toward reality. And the more we see things fall apart, the further we move from connectedness to anarchy. It makes social entropy feel inevitable. But it is not.

ultraglide.bsky.social•5 days ago

No? Surly some revelation is at hand.

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social•5 days ago

The separations and schisms we see can be closed. We can move together to lift each other and push back against those who wish to divide. But it must be active; we must, as Whitman wrote, seek the spheres to connect, rather than waiting and hoping.

klaaskid8.bsky.social•4 days ago

Beautiful

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social•5 days ago

This is, to me, one of the great purposes of political activism: to connect us to each other and push back against those forces of separation. To paraphrase Donne, no one of us is an island. We all impact each other; together, we can do more than any of us can do alone.

floofmcgoof.bsky.social•5 days ago

jeffroushwriting.bsky.social•5 days ago

A politics of isolation, both abroad and within our borders, seeks to push us into our individual corners. We have to push back, and the only way to do so is to push together. Speak for each other and with each other, and create too much united pressure to ignore.

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