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“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”by Walt Whitman 1Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!Clouds of the west—sun there half an hour high—I see you also face to face. Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious you are to me!On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose,And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose. 2The impalpable sustenance of me from all things at all hours of the day,The simple, compact, well-join’d scheme, myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated yet part…

“Parsley”by Rita Dove There is a parrot imitating springin the palace, its feathers parsley green.Out of the swamp the cane appears to haunt us, and we cut it down. El Generalsearches for a word; he is all the worldthere is. Like a parrot imitating spring, we lie down screaming as rain punches throughand we come up green. We cannot speak an R—out of the swamp, the cane appears and then the mountain we call in whispers Katalina.The children gnaw their teeth to arrowheads.There is a parrot imitating spring. El General has found his word: perejil.Who says it, lives. He laughs, teeth shiningout of the swamp. The cane appears in our…

“The Sea Is History”   by Derek Walcott Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs?Where is your tribal memory? Sirs,in that grey vault. The sea. The seahas locked them up. The sea is History. First, there was the heaving oil,heavy as chaos;then, like a light at the end of a tunnel, the lantern of a caravel,and that was Genesis.Then there were the packed cries,the shit, the moaning: Exodus.Bone soldered by coral to bone,mosaicsmantled by the benediction of the shark’s shadow, that was the Ark of the Covenant.Then came from the plucked wiresof sunlight on the sea floor the plangent harps of the Babylonian bondage,as the white cowries clustered like manacleson…

The Soul selects her own Society (303) by Emily Dickinson The Soul selects her own Society —Then — shuts the Door —To her divine Majority —Present no more — Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing —At her low Gate —Unmoved — an Emperor be kneelingUpon her Mat — I’ve known her — from an ample nation —Choose One —Then — close the Valves of her attention —Like Stone — c. 1862

“The Brain—is wider than the Sky”By: Emily Dickinson The Brain—is wider than the Sky—For—put them side by side—The one the other will containWith ease—and You—beside— The Brain is deeper than the sea—For—hold them—Blue to Blue—The one the other will absorb—As Sponges—Buckets—do— The Brain is just the weight of God—For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—And they will differ—if they do—As Syllable from Sound—

This World is not Conclusion (373)BY EMILY DICKINSON This World is not Conclusion.A Species stands beyond –Invisible, as Music –But positive, as Sound –It beckons, and it baffles –Philosophy, dont know –And through a Riddle, at the last –Sagacity, must go –To guess it, puzzles scholars –To gain it, Men have borneContempt of GenerationsAnd Crucifixion, shown –Faith slips – and laughs, and rallies –Blushes, if any see –Plucks at a twig of Evidence –And asks a Vane, the way –Much Gesture, from the Pulpit –Strong Hallelujahs roll –Narcotics cannot still the ToothThat nibbles at the soul –