Walt Whitman, in his natural state:
I Think it's wonderful that Walt Whitman posed nude, especially since he did it in the nineteenth century. He made himself vulnerable, so we must be gentle, and he made himself human, so we must treat him humanely.
Perhaps all poets are enamored of truth and beauty, and see the one in the other. It was certainly true of Walt (I'll call him that, since he is one of my life companions), and it is true of me.
Human beings are not only faces and hands, the only parts that were exposed in Victorian times. It is in all the rest that humanity is found,
Do you think less of Walt Whitman for having posed nude? I hope not. I think more of him because of it, if that were possible. His honesty and bravery would be exemplary even in our time, let alone in his.
Do you think less of me for having done the same thing? I hope not. I see it as a grand tradition.
