everybody wants to be closer to free
Finishing up my homework for multicultural social studies (the full class title is even more of a mouthful) and wanted to share a poem I found for my reading response.
***
Mannahatta
Walt Whitman
I Was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name.
Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly, musical, self-sufficient,
I see that the word of my city is that word from of old,
Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb,
Rich, hemmed thick all around with sail ships and steam ships, an island sixteen miles long, solid-founded,
Numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender, strong, light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies,
Tides swift and ample, well-loved by me, towards sundown,
The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining islands, the heights, the villas,
The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, the ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-modelled,
The down-town streets, the jobbers’ houses of business, the houses of business of the ship-merchants and money brokers, the river-streets,
Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week,
The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses, the brown-faced sailors,
The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft,
The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the river, passing along up or down with the flood-tide or ebb-tide,
The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-formed, beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,
Trottoirs thronged, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the shops and shows,
A million people-manners free and superb-open voices-hospitality-the most courageous and friendly young men,
City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts!
City nested in bays! my city!
***
In other news, I saw the season finale of House, wish I'd seen the season finale of CSI: Miama (who is the mole? tell me, internet!) and I saw the last TWO HOUR extravaganza that was American Idol. House was gross though intriguing and American Idol was actually entertaining (my dad was really excited to watch Meatloaf, and my mom cried at the drop of a hat. Or when someone mentioned their parents or a parent cried. It was cute.
Oh, and the da Vinci Code? Don't see it. At least not when you have to pay exorbitant amounts of money. Rent it.
Okay, having used my hot net skills, I have discovered the mole... and I have NO IDEA WHO THAT IS. Oh well. Maybe when I see it again it will become more shocking. *shrugs*
And to conclude, I got lost three times on the way to the computer lab. School, why are you six buildings cunningly stuck together in an utterly bizzare way? I knew where I was and where the lab was, but COULD NOT GET FROM ONE TO THE OTHER. *facepalm... at life*
Messages:
kumquat_queen: I got your email, I fail, depending on when in June that is it will fantabulously fine. I will email you more coherently when I get home.
rhymester: X:3? Tomorrow? I am all agleeful in anticipation and might have to watch the first two tomorrow in preparation. Wow, that was rhythmic XD I will be out of class at 6:45 call meeeeee! Or I will call you :-)
*bounces away, with lovely House-GIP*
***
Mannahatta
Walt Whitman
I Was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name.
Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly, musical, self-sufficient,
I see that the word of my city is that word from of old,
Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb,
Rich, hemmed thick all around with sail ships and steam ships, an island sixteen miles long, solid-founded,
Numberless crowded streets, high growths of iron, slender, strong, light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies,
Tides swift and ample, well-loved by me, towards sundown,
The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining islands, the heights, the villas,
The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, the ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-modelled,
The down-town streets, the jobbers’ houses of business, the houses of business of the ship-merchants and money brokers, the river-streets,
Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week,
The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses, the brown-faced sailors,
The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft,
The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the river, passing along up or down with the flood-tide or ebb-tide,
The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-formed, beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,
Trottoirs thronged, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the shops and shows,
A million people-manners free and superb-open voices-hospitality-the most courageous and friendly young men,
City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts!
City nested in bays! my city!
***
In other news, I saw the season finale of House, wish I'd seen the season finale of CSI: Miama (who is the mole? tell me, internet!) and I saw the last TWO HOUR extravaganza that was American Idol. House was gross though intriguing and American Idol was actually entertaining (my dad was really excited to watch Meatloaf, and my mom cried at the drop of a hat. Or when someone mentioned their parents or a parent cried. It was cute.
Oh, and the da Vinci Code? Don't see it. At least not when you have to pay exorbitant amounts of money. Rent it.
Okay, having used my hot net skills, I have discovered the mole... and I have NO IDEA WHO THAT IS. Oh well. Maybe when I see it again it will become more shocking. *shrugs*
And to conclude, I got lost three times on the way to the computer lab. School, why are you six buildings cunningly stuck together in an utterly bizzare way? I knew where I was and where the lab was, but COULD NOT GET FROM ONE TO THE OTHER. *facepalm... at life*
Messages:
kumquat_queen: I got your email, I fail, depending on when in June that is it will fantabulously fine. I will email you more coherently when I get home.
rhymester: X:3? Tomorrow? I am all agleeful in anticipation and might have to watch the first two tomorrow in preparation. Wow, that was rhythmic XD I will be out of class at 6:45 call meeeeee! Or I will call you :-)
*bounces away, with lovely House-GIP*