I usually have a hard time establishing a connection between my personal life and a work of poetry.  Once in a while, I am given a poem that I can connect to, like Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.  This poem frequently reminded me of my experiences on the Staten Island Ferry.

Every time I use the Staten Island Ferry, I look around and wonder what the other people on the ferry are up to.  Walt Whitman seemed to have shared my nosy characteristic,”the hundreds and hundreds that cross…curious to me.”  I assume that many others do the same when they are on a busy ferry but it is nice to know that I share this characteristic with a famous poet.

Another thing that I have in common with the poem is that Walt Whitman and I see the people in a ferry as part of a larger organism.  When I sit in the ferry, I have a tendency to sit back and think of how every person on the boat has a role to play in society.  I appreciate that this poet seems to have done something very similar, “simple, compact, well-join’d scheme…every one disintegrated yet part of the scheme.”

There are so many more connections I have with this poem but I feel like there is only one more worth talking about.  Whenever I am on the outer parts of a ferry, such as the balconies, I often stare at the passing water.  Something odd occurs when this happens; I tend to be very calm and relaxed on the ferry yet the passing water currents make me feel as if I am in a hurry. I am glad I am not the only person that experienced this, “Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift current, I stood yet was hurried.”

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry was an enjoyable read and provides strong motivation to start reading more poems revolving around New York City life and art.