References & Reviews

"My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach, With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of worlds."

When Bruce begins to speak Whitman's verse, that curious blend of conversation and oratory, simultaneously friendly and formal, I imagine Walt nodding in agreement, and casting occasional quizzical glances, as if to say 'Was it I who said that? What are these words from a stranger's mouth?' Then Walt suddenly knows in his own bones what he might not have fully understood in 1855 or 1890 - that his words having entered the eyes or the ears of his readers, become the words not merely of Walt Whitman the author, but of that cosmic self that can speak through any human body. I imagine Walt turning to me seated next to him and paraphrasing himself: 'Whom this man touches, is touched by my book.' - John Calvin Rezmerski, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota

"I must follow up these continual lessons of the air, water earth, I perceive I have no time to lose."

The Chronicle Of Higher Educations
Reading Whitman Religiously
by Michael Roberstson

Morgunbladid / The Morning Paper
Iceland’s most widely read daily newspaper
Friday, June 21st 2002 ARTS section

We Icelanders don’t often get the opportunity to hear high-quality live performances of the high-quality poetry of a departed poet such as the American, Walt Whitman. This is exactly what the Cafe Theatre offered us last Tuesday evening, and many accepted the offer, despite the fact that outside was was the glow of a beautiful summer evening on the warmest day on record for more than a century. Continue