| Foreword | |
| Expecting the Main Things | |
| Defending Walt Whitman | p. 1 |
| Walt Whitman and the Birds | p. 3 |
| Wild With It | p. 4 |
| Hair of the Field | p. 6 |
| Jiang Yuying, Famous Professor at Beijing University, Who Daringly Rendered into Chinese the First Complete Walt Whitman | p. 9 |
| Whitman's Grass | p. 11 |
| May 31, 1989 | p. 13 |
| Whitman in Black | p. 15 |
| Despair | p. 16 |
| This Night: For Walt Whitman | p. 17 |
| Camden, 1892 | p. 18 |
| Your Sister | p. 19 |
| Canticle | p. 20 |
| Early Evening | p. 21 |
| Small Acts | p. 23 |
| Walt Whitman at the Reburial of Poe | p. 25 |
| Walt Whitman in New Orleans, 1848 | p. 27 |
| Walt Whitman in Ohio | p. 28 |
| Walt Whitman in the Car Lot, Repo or Used | p. 29 |
| Labor Day | p. 31 |
| February 12, 1865 | p. 32 |
| Whitman: The Wall | p. 34 |
| Whitman, Come Again to the Cities | p. 35 |
| Walt, the Wounded | p. 36 |
| Letter to Walt Whitman | p. 39 |
| Centennial for Whitman | p. 49 |
| Walt, I Salute You! | p. 53 |
| Another Nameless Prostitute Says the Man Is Innocent | p. 55 |
| Green-Eyed Boy after Reading Whitman and Sandburg | p. 57 |
| To Walt Whitman | p. 58 |
| Poem for Old Walt | p. 62 |
| Reading Walt Whitman | p. 63 |
| Walt Whitman at Timber Creek | p. 64 |
| A Story Having to Do with Walt Whitman | p. 66 |
| Meeting the Master | p. 68 |
| Memorials | p. 69 |
| I Love Old Whitman So | p. 70 |
| Lecturing on Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson in China | p. 71 |
| For Walt Whitman | p. 73 |
| The Poem of the Praises | p. 75 |
| Whitman's Confession: In the Cleft of Eternity | p. 79 |
| The Varied Carol | p. 81 |
| Matthew Brady Speaks of Whitman | p. 83 |
| Ghazal XXXIX | p. 84 |
| Bread | p. 85 |
| Whitman Leaves the Boardwalk | p. 87 |
| Crossing Walt Whitman Bridge | p. 88 |
| [Walt Whitman] | p. 91 |
| Whitman in a Corner | p. 92 |
| Old Walt | p. 94 |
| Walt Whitman in Hell | p. 95 |
| Walt Whitman in the Civil War Hospitals | p. 111 |
| Under the Sign of Walt Whitman | p. 112 |
| Walt Whitman | p. 113 |
| Testament (Or, Homage to Walt Whitman) | p. 114 |
| Whitman Again | p. 119 |
| Kosmos | p. 120 |
| A Whitman Portrait | p. 123 |
| A Civil War Veteran from Indiana Recalls Visiting with Walt Whitman in a Washington Hospital | p. 125 |
| Dear Mr. Whitman | p. 128 |
| I Sing the Body Electric | p. 130 |
| Whitman | p. 132 |
| Ode to Walt Whitman | p. 134 |
| Walt Whitman's Brain Dropped on Laboratory Floor | p. 139 |
| A Whit for Whitman | p. 140 |
| Hopkins and Whitman | p. 141 |
| Second-Born Son: Lines for Walt Whitman Composed on Nantucket Island | p. 143 |
| To Walt Whitman on America's Birthday | p. 146 |
| Reaching Around | p. 148 |
| Postcard to Walt Whitman from Siena | p. 154 |
| Reading "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" on a Summar Morning | p. 155 |
| A Modern Poet | p. 156 |
| Ode to Walt Whitman | p. 157 |
| Nurse Whitman | p. 162 |
| With Whitman at the Friendship Hotel | p. 163 |
| Reading with the Poets | p. 164 |
| A Pact | p. 166 |
| Walt Whitman | p. 167 |
| A Porter on the Trail | p. 168 |
| Against Whitman | p. 170 |
| Reading Whitman's Democratic Vistas | p. 171 |
| Whitman Stock-Taking, Cataloguing | p. 173 |
| Walt Whitman at the Irish Festival, Syracuse, New York: Four Snapshots | p. 175 |
| Last Days in Camden | p. 176 |
| Walt Whitman at Bear Mountain | p. 183 |
| Whitman Pinch Hits, 1861 | p. 185 |
| With Walt Whitman at Fredericksburg | p. 187 |
| When Helen Keller Spoke | p. 189 |
| For You, Walt Whitman | p. 191 |
| from "Hot Dog" | p. 192 |
| Briefly Eavesdropping on Walt Whitman, Virginia, 1863 | p. 196 |
| Walt Whitman at Pfaff's: A Fantasy | p. 197 |
| An Apple from Walt Whitman | p. 198 |
| Walt Whitman Bathing | p. 199 |
| For Whitman | p. 200 |
| On Walt Whitman's Birthday | p. 201 |
| The Good Grey Poet | p. 202 |
| Walt Whitman Encounters the Cosmos with the Cats of New York | p. 205 |
| Walt Whitman | p. 206 |
| Walt Whitman in Alabama | p. 207 |
| Notes on Contributors | p. 211 |
| Permissions | p. 225 |
| Index to Titles | p. 233 |
| Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved. |