Walt Whitman Shops, by Joey Nicoletti

Joey Nicoletti is the author of 2 full-length poetry collections and 4
chapbooks, most recently Reverse Graffiti (Bordighera, 2015) and Counterfeit
Moon (NightBallet, 2016). Educated at the University of Iowa, New Mexico
State University, and Sarah Lawrence College, he currently teaches at
SUNY Buffalo State College.

Abouth the poem:
Having spent significant parts of my boyhood in Walt Whitman’s birthplace
and his eponymously named shopping mall, I visited my old stomping grounds
recently, and was taken aback by its name change from “Walt Whitman Mall”
to “Walt Whitman Shops,” its new emphasis on upscale stores, and the increased
sprawl of tract housing around it, which made me wonder what I might say to
Walt if we swapped stories and perspectives about the area.