...dropt, Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say Whose? . . . Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, And it means,...and narrow zones, Growing among black folks as among whites, Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same. And now...

...cemeteries in the city, often the use of land immediately before it was occupied by dwellings for the living ("And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves"). The grass said that all the dead were "alive and well somewhere." It assured us that "All goes onward...

...sense? Can't you feel the horror?" "Yes, June." You sink to your knees. You caress the grass. "I can." And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves. "How many, June?" You lean forward, your face almost touching the grass. many babies." June weeps behind...

...authority nor power save in God on High.51 Chapter Four THE HIGHWAY OF CIVILIZATIONS THE EURASIAN STEPPE And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves. —WALT WHITMAN, "Song of Myself," Leaves of Grass Look how wide also the east is from the west. —...

...the "thesis" image of Leaves of Grass, as it appeared on the first page of the first edition in 1855: Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, And it means,...Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same. (Whitman 1982:31) Hayden's Afro-modernism responds to Whitman's call by searching out levels of experience...

...remark, and say Whose? Or 1 guess the grass itself is a child, the produced babe of the vegetation. Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, And it means,...alike in broad zones and narrow zones, Growing among the black folks as among white, Canuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive...

...remark, and say Whose? Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation. Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, And it means,...narrow zones, Growing among black folks as among white, Kanuck,1(lTuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same. And now it seems...

...remark, and say Whose? Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation. Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and Growing among black folks as among white, Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same,...

...itself a child .... the produced babe of vegetation. Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic [...]. And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves. (16, my emphases) Whitman's marking of each metaphorical response with such uncharacteristic ambivalence...

...remark, and say Whose? Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation. Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, And it means,...it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves. [ W192-193] Sequencing is important throughout Whitman's work; the poet constantly reconsidered the...