the body is the poem

i'm a late convert to walt -- reading carson's short stories got me interested in his "songs" and i've had this posted above my desk (thanks to another poetic inspiration)--and enjoyed andreas' post of his "facing west from california's shores" and it seemed that poetry is meant to be cut and pasted and shared and constantly re-birthed.

so here's my scrap:

this is what you shall do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning god, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful undeducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all that you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul and your very flesh shall be a great poem. . .