You can read all of Emily Dickinson
And never know that the Civil War happened
Walt Whitman reported from the thick of it
Tending to the dying and the industrially maimed

The great crisis inspired Melville to the worst poetry
Up they climbed without rail or banister
Spite of grapeshot [something] and canister
Rhymed couplets not his forte

So here comes the almighty I
The great DK Lord of Erudition
Dickinson great poems
Whitman great

Welcome aboard Herman
Up let us climb together
I won’t even attempt a rhyme
Or rely upon any other fucking banister