Multitudes

 (for Walt and for Maya Angelou)

"Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself,

(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"

- from Song of Myself, 51 by Walt Whitman

I am a woman, phenomenally.

I am a number, albeit nominally.

I am the burning pain you feel abdominally.

I am the ape-like snowman you treat abominably.

I am the story of my life - I feature prominently.

I am the story of my wife I write concomitantly.

I am Gordon Ramsay, gastronomically.

I am Sir Patrick Moore, astronomically.

I am a deadly disease, pathologically.

I am Mr Spock, that is illogically.

I am a can of Lilt that's drank erotically.

I am a tube of cream, apply me topically.

B.R. 13.12.2021

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is among the most influential poets in the American canon, widely considered to be the father of free verse.