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The world below the brine,
Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves,
Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick tangle openings, and pink turf,
Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold, the play of light through the water,
Dumb swimmers there among the rocks, coral, gluten, grass, rushes, and the aliment of the swimmers,
Sluggish existences grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling close to the bottom,
The sperm-whale at the surface blowing air and spray, or disporting with his flukes,
The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard, and the sting-ray,
Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-depths, breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do,
The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed by beings like us who walk this sphere,
The change onward from ours to that of beings who walk other spheres.
Walt Whitman (1819-1892), one of America's most renowned and innovative poets, was born in West Hills, New York, on Long Island, and grew up in Brooklyn. He held the post of editor on a number of newspapers, and also worked as a teacher, printer, reporter, writer, carpenter, and farmer. These vocations all influenced his life and work, but none so profoundly as his experinces and observations of the U.S. Civil War. His major collections include Leaves of Grass (1855), which he first published at his own expense, and Drum Taps (1865), about the Civil War years.
Cary Barnhard grew up in New Jersey, where his senior class voted him "most unique." He maintains that honor is a polite way of being voted "most likely to need therapy." After a few misadventures in the music industry, he started pretending to be a graphic artist. Eventually it became the truth.
Pilling the ManLate Autumn Night in IowaWinter UplandsNeedles of the KyrieOctopusMemory