Reading Review: "Leaves of Grass" at Housing Works

(First of all, let me just say that I don't take my Whitman poetry lightly, because he is my absolute favorite poet and Song of Myself is probably my favorite poem of all time.)

On April 27th, I attended (most of) a Walt Whitman reading of Leaves of Grass in honor of National Poetry Month. Before even going, I was really excited about this because, as mentioned, Whitman is very special to me. I wasn't sure what to expect, however, and I was pleasantly surprised by how enthusiastic everyone (audience and readers alike) was. The event ran from 1-4 pm which was a long time, so I stayed until about 3 before I decided to make my commute back to LI.

For those of you who don't know, the Housing Works Bookstore is located in SoHo, not too far away from campus at all, and I would definitely check the place out (event or no event) if you haven't gone there already. It's a really nice space and draws a fantastic crowd-- everyone there was really happy to be there and really enthusiastic about Whitman, which was nice because I don't think I actually knew anyone who enjoyed his work that much.

That being said, I've read Leaves of Grass so I kind of knew what to expect. I was most excited for Song of Myself, which was read wonderfully. One of the readers happened to be a TA I had last semester for my American Literature class (no surprise, she was OBSESSED with Whitman actually), and she did a really great job. I ended up sending her an email a few days later complementing her on a job well done! There are some pictures of the event up on flickr and other various sources of the internet if you feel like checking out any of the speakers! They were all really great, and there were a LOT of them (52 to be exact) so that was a bit overwhelming.

Besides the actual reading of Song of Myself, my favorite part of this event was the vibe. It was a buzzing, cheery crowd that was really respectful of the readers and knew when to talk and when not to talk (something that definitely irritates me about crowds is when they're rude and don't stop talking once a speaker has started). Despite not knowing anyone prior to arriving, I actually made some good conversation with other people there that I hadn't known, and there were a decent amount of literature/creative writing undergrads that I had never met before, so that was a great experience.

Overall, it was a great experience and I'd absolutely go to an event there again, if the opportunity arose!