Every Atom | No. 182

I am the poet of the body,

And I am the poet of the soul.

Whitman, in “Song of Myself,” deals with body and soul not as a duality or a dichotomy, nor as opposites, but rather as one. This Oneness is the Kosmos of his Song. Every atom in this Kosmos unites to make the path. The body ascends into the soul, while the soul descends into the body, and vice versa. All at once, into a journey towards the whole being. But it’s an erotic journey. And the power, the power of unity, of oneness, comes from this eroticism. The “body electric” fused with the perfumed soul. Then the Song becomes the temple, and from that temple the “song will rise to meet the sun.”