Whitman’s Vision
While I am certain
many Northern puritanical critics
disdained
“Leaves of Grass”,
the South never agreed
with Whiman's
vision of America
home of Democracy.
Their response was fires…
Civil War…
and then segregation
among unequals…
Jim Crow…
and lynchings…
after blue and gray
brother’s war…
The South would never
allow us to forgive them.
Steve Heins