WALT WHITMAN: THE FIRST AMERICAN PUNK POET?
The enduring image of Walt Whitman is as a bearded old sage living out his years in his Camden home. And yet, he was still a relatively unknown writer into his 40s, living with his mother in Brooklyn and wandering Manhattan’s streets at night. During this time, he went underground (literally) to Pfaff’s, a below street-level saloon catering to artists and writers at Broadway and Bleecker. For four years (1858-62), he was a regular there, along with Adah Isaacs Menken, Thomas Nast, Ada Clare and Fitz Hugh “Hasheesh Eater” Ludlow, all of whom pushed the Downtown borders as the punks woul...
Source: pleasekillme.com
