“Do anything, but let it produce joy.”  Walt Whitman

Wandering through the amazing Leaves of Grass recently, Walt Whitmans’s joyful exuberance leaped off the page, reminding me what a gift it is to write! A few inspiring thoughts of Walt’s:

“To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.”

“Happiness is not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.”

“Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.”

“Either define the moment or the moment will define you.”

“Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)”

“I am satisfied… I see, dance, laugh, sing.”

“Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all.”

“Oh while I live, to be the ruler of life, not a slave, to meet life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to me will ever take command of me.”

“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself.”

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

“Be curious, not judgmental.”

“…the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.”

“Re-examine all that you have been told… dismiss that which insults your soul.”

“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.”

“Simplicity is the glory of expression.”

Bravo, Walt —  inspirit us to write dangerously as we all write on!

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