Comments on Profile Post by caute

1. he was bi
2. he never said anything bad about anyone, ever
3. he wrote a elegiac poem about lincoln's death
that's our guy, das America.

Whitman?

https://genius.com/John-berryman-dream-song-1-annotated

Dylan. Or Rod McKuen https://slate.com/culture/2022/10/rod-mckuen-best-selling-poet-songs-what-happened.html , who also had the coolest cat photo: https://www.life.com/animals/delightful-cats/

My vote is for Allen Ginsberg.

Eminem

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49305/america-56d22b41f119f

@Merrick , "I saw the best minds of my generation...."

Liam Lynch: "This is my United States of whatever..."

"I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?"

Maybe a separate topic, but songwriters should be considered poets. Traditional poetry has rhythm, timing, etc that's not just about the words; songs have words, imagery, etc that are not just about the music. Dylan (as mentioned), but also Leonard Cohen, Cole Porter, Joni Mitchell....

@joch agreed, but it needs to be pointed out that 2 of those you mention are Canadian :)

Got me there! but the US doesn't have total ownership to "America" :P Besides, good poetry (and music) should transcend national identity. I'm wary of nationalistic anything that's produced, and concern of art that's co-opted by jingoists.

Whitman is our national bard. But there's a sound case for Dickinson. I can see a case for Frost, but he's not *that* good. I don't see why anyone would have thought of Eliot or Pound: they're not American poets.

I would say Dickinson too…the sparseness vs the wordiness of the prevailing style in her day is very “American” and a departure of English influence.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-e-cummings
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-berryman

William Carlos Williams for the win!

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens