Calamus

[incantation]

Spears of grass, do tears
That fall for
A male lover have a different
Mass, can they be shaped
From within. Dialogue between
Nature and art, spirit and flesh.
Walt Whitman had his hands
On two different mirrors, arc of
Swan's uplift reflected on water.
Move towards perfection
In his work and male
Companions. Unresting
Ballet of a poet's senses.
Can tear with image of
Lost lover be recalled 
Who painted Michelangelo's
Dream within the tear.
Love without boundaries.
 Organic as
The compost Walt wrote about,
Natural as daylight that 
Astonished him. Michelangelo
Created an aesthetic of 
Male beauty in sculpture
As vigorous as the calamus.
Panopticon of time's dance
With dreams.
Expansions through brush, pen,
Intimacy of men. Celebration
Of the male body, union.
Moon of ice
Passes over waterfall of fire
Definitions of desire alter imperceptibly.
An earth shivers agents
Out of conformity nothing
Can prevent gravity from
Being delivered.

[Terry A]

Just for the record:

From Wiki-

In 1890, Symonds wrote to Whitman: "In your conception of Comradeship, do you contemplate the possible intrusion of those semi-sexual emotions and actions which no doubt do occur between men?" In reply, Whitman denied that his work had any such implication, asserting "[T]hat the calamus part has even allow'd the possibility of such construction as mention'd is terrible—I am fain to hope the pages themselves are not to be even mention'd for such gratuitous and quite at this time entirely undream'd & unreck'd possibility of morbid inferences—wh' are disavow'd by me and seem damnable"

 In Whitman's time he took the stance most necessary to being allowed inclusion in public life. Many post-modern writers have blurred the line between what is art and what is pornography thinking the "edginess" gives them a one-up on the more gently treatments such questions raise. And this poem is gentle, peers into the past and the ending poses a question far greater than the subject matter.

I liked Whitman's poems of his wartime experiences; his "Leaves of Grass" I found no desire to read through. And so I must leave it to others to study his actual contributions to poetry.

 "love without boundaries" is heartily one thing, sex without boundaries is vastly another; and many, many gay people would hold to the first, but not to the second.

Your poem has depth in meaning, and as usual for your writing, depth in imagery and thought.

[incantation]

Thanks

 

Written for contest

I'm not gay.

[Terry A]

Best of luck in the contest! As to your second point, it never crossed my mind.

I have a friend who adores Hart Crane and it most certainly isn't because he is gay; Hart Crane was, but he isn't. Poets take from life, all range of subject matter.