POETS TO COME
Poets to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!
Not to-day is to justify me and answer what I am for,But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental, greater than before known,
Arouse! for you must justify me.
I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,I but advance a moment only to wheel and hurry back in the darkness.
I am a man who, sauntering along without fully stopping, turns a
casual look upon you and then averts his face,
Leaving it to you to prove and define it,
Expecting the main things from you.
—Walt Whitman
If I’m to be a writer, Walt Whitman expects main things from my writing, so I figure I should know what the main things are. Below is an ordered list without explanation. The explanations will be what I write about. Thank you, Walt.
Making the list, especially prioritizing it, was harder than I thought it would be. I welcome additions and reordering suggestions.
- Food and water
- Shelter and clothing
- Health
- Safety
- Love
- Hope
- Faith
- Kindness
- Justice
- Forgiveness
- Laughter
- Freedom
icanhasgrace 