So apparently when Aaron Belz
volumizes his beard with a "vitamin enriched formula that nourishes dormant
roots with essential nutrients" he looks like Walt Whitman, as he claims in "My Chosen Vocation." It does sound
like Belz is a pretty humble guy, but are there other ways in which he is trying to imitate
Whitman? Cary Nelson agrees that "much of twentieth century American
poetry is a dialogue with Walt Whitman" (MAP 1), so even though Belz is
writing in the 21st century we can justifiably say he's probably imitating
or distinguishing himself from Whitman. While folically he is obviously
imitating Whitman, what about poetically?
A favorite topic of both Whitman
and Belz is the self. Whitman tries to form some both-and individuality and
commonality of the self in "One's-Self I Sing" among other places:
"One's-Self I sing, a simple separate person,/ Yet utter the word
Democratic, the word En-Masse" (MAP 1). Belz may be the exact opposite on
the topic. His poem "Song of Myself" paints a pretty depressing
picture of having a meal alone and making a joke to the cashier about splitting
the check in an attempt to have community. And then again in “Team” which is
worth showing in full:
There’s
no I in team,
but
there’s one in bitterness
and
one in failure.
Maybe it’s
safe to say, then, that Belz has a different view on the individual in his
poetry than Whitman does. He is in dialogue with Whitman, however, and they do
share the well-nourished beard. But who knows, Belz is a pretty unpredictable
guy, so maybe he’s written or could write in the future poems that praise
self-sufficiency just as much as Whitman did.
Sources: Anthology of Modern American Poetry, edited by Cary Nelson
Glitter Bomb, Aaron Belz
