I just read Leaves Of Grass. Or tried to. I couldn't manage more than 20 or so pages.

How did this guy get his reputation? He's classed as poetry but his poetry follows no rules of poetry. They say he is "free form" Which really means just write whatever guff you want and don't worry about rhyming or meter.

That's like Bach writing music without keys or chords.

Walt Whitman has turned me off poetry for good.

Hey look, what I just wrote could almost be a Walt Whitman poem.