 |
 |
| This photo of Walt Whitman was taken in the mid-1860s when he
lived in Washington, D.C. It is now part of the archive at Ohio Wesleyan University.
|
|
|
| | |
|
|
D.C. Celebrates Whitman: 150 Years of ‘Leaves
of Grass’
www.washingtonart.com/whitman/walt.html
March 29
Grace Church, 1041 Wiconsin Ave., NW
7:30 p.m.
Poetry reading featuring poets Mark DeFoe, Grace Cavalieri, Sarah Browning and
Hilary Tham reading from their and Whitman’s work.
April 7
Chapters, 445 11th St., NW
7 p.m.
Poetry reading featuring poets David Bergman, Myra Sklarew and Rosemary Winslow
reading from their and Whitman’s work.
April 14 & 15
Fords Theater, 511 10th St., NW
9:15 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.
Dramatic readings of Whitman’s poem “O Captain, My Captain!”
along with the story of Lincoln’s assassination.
April 16
Friends Meeting of Washington, 2111 Florida Ave., NW
10 a.m.
A meditation session based on Whitman’s own meditation practices. Limited
to 20 people. RSVP to ananda001@aol.com.
April 16
George Washington University’s Marvin Center, 800 21st St., NW
Noon - 5 p.m.
A marathon reading of the 1855 edition of “Leaves of Grass” by area
poets, scholars, actors and politicians.
April 17
7th and F Streets, NW
10 a.m.
A walking tour featuring the sites where Whitman lived and worked while living
in D.C. led by Martin Murray and Craig Howell.
April 20
Catholic University’s Hannan Hall, 620 Michigan Ave., NE
4:30 p.m.
Poetry reading by David Bottoms, winner of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy
of American Poets, and Patricia Gray, Saundra Rose Maley, Judith McCombs, Kim
Roberts and Richard Sharp.
April 23
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Public Library, 901 G St., NW
12:30 p.m.
Sherwood Smith reads selections of Whitman’s work and talks about his
connection to D.C.
May 4
Brookland Visitor’s Center, 3450 9th St., NE
7 p.m.
The Brookland Poetry Series looks at Whitman’s work and the poets that
he influences, especially the Beat poets. Hosted by Michael Gushue and gay spirituality
and civil rights advocate Dan Vera.
May 7
Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E St., NW
10:30 a.m.
A tour of the historic cemetery which includes the grave of Whitman’s
partner Peter Doyle and many of the Civil War soldiers he befriended. Led by
Martin Murray and Steven Carson.
May 16
Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 E. Capital St., SE
7:30 p.m.
Gay poet Mark Doty and Anne Waldman celebrate Whitman’s birthday with
this reading of their and his work. $10.
May 25
Arts Club of Washington, 2017 I St., NW
12:30 p.m.
Luncheon and poetry reading featuring David McAleavey, Clarinda Harriss, Linda
Joy Burke and Robert L. Giron read from their own and Whitman’s work.
$15.
May 31
Library of Congress Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave., SE
noon
Whitman birthday celebration featuring Robert Aubry Davis reading from “Leaves
of Grass.”
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| | |
HOME > ENTERTAINMENT > FEATURE
By: BRIAN MOYLAN COMMENTS
 
MANY AMERICANS got their first exposure to the great gay poet Walt Whitman in
obligatory high school or college English classes. For Martin Murray, his first
encounter with Whitman was, strangely enough, on television.
In 1976, when he was 20, Murray watched the movie “Song of Myself”
on CBS, which showed Whitman (played by Rip Torn) and his partner Peter Doyle
(Brad Davis) meeting on a train and going home together.
“As a young gay man, it was something I needed at that time,” Murray
says from his home in D.C. “The thought of having Brad Davis as a lover
was also very appealing.”
Not interested in Whitman’s poetry, Murray, an economist by trade, began
to research Whitman’s life and is an expert on the subject, publishing
“Pete the Great: A Biography of Peter Doyle” in 1994. In the ’80s,
he learned that his friend Morgan McDonald also loved the “great gray
poet” and the pair came up with a walking tour of D.C. that highlights
the places where Whitman lived and worked in the city.
“When we were advertising the tour … we couldn’t say, ‘Martin
and Morgan present’ so we came up with the Washington Friends of Walt
Whitman,” jokes Murray, who has been president of the group since its
inception in 1987.
After slowly growing over nearly two decades, the Washington Friends of Walt
Whitman, which Murray describes as a mostly informal group, is about to undertake
its most ambitious project to date: a two month-long celebration of the 150th
anniversary of Whitman’s masterpiece “Leaves of Grass.”
From March 26th (the date of Whitman’s death in 1892) through May 31
(the date of Whitman’s birth in 1819) the city is scheduled to host “D.C.
Celebrates Whitman: 150 Years of ‘Leaves of Grass,’” which
includes poetry readings, walking tours and even a meditation session in conjunction
with the celebration.
Murray called on Kim Roberts, a fellow Friend of Whitman and the editor of
the online literary journal Beltway, to chair the festival.
First, Roberts published a Whitman edition of Beltway where poets in the region
submitted poems directly addressing or influenced by Whitman. Many of the poets
will be reading at different events throughout the festival.
Roberts, an arts administrator, enlisted help from friends around town and,
as word of the events spread, different organizations approached Roberts about
being included in the festivities.
Now, the celebration not only includes the Friends, but also the Folger Shakespeare
Library, the Library of Congress, the Rainbow History Project, the Arts Club
of Washington, George Washington University and Catholic University.
Many of the programs focus on Whitman’s presence in the District.
“I wish that more people associated Whitman with Washington,” Roberts
says. “Most people associate him with New York and New Jersey. He considered
the 10 years he was in D.C. the most important time of his life. The fact that
so many people don’t realize that he spent so long and such an important
time here is a shame. We need to do more to claim him as one of our own.”
BORN ON A farm on Long Island, N.Y., Whitman moved with his family to Brooklyn
when he was a small boy. After dropping out of school at 11, he continued to
educate himself and became a printer’s apprentice. After working as a
printer in Brooklyn, Whitman worked as a schoolteacher on Long Island.
After he grew tired of teaching, Whitman spent the ’30s and ’40s
writing and editing at different newspapers in Long Island, Brooklyn and Manhattan.
In 1855, he published the first edition of “Leaves of Grass,” which
he would continue to revise, adapt and augment in various editions throughout
his life, before the final edition was published in 1892.
At 43, Whitman moved to D.C., in 1862, after learning that his brother George
was injured in the Civil War. He visited soldiers at different Civil War hospitals
around the city, caring for them as a nurse and supporting himself as a government
clerk, first at the Army Paymaster’s Office and later at the Indian Bureau
at the Department of the Interior.
In 1865, he met Doyle, an Irish immigrant who served in the Rebel Army and
operated a streetcar for the Washington and Georgetown Railroad.
Doyle wrote of their meeting, “He was the only passenger, it was a ...
|
