Iconic American poet Walt Whitman wrote a litany of poetic muses. One that has always stood out for me is his wonderfully didactic adage:
“Be curious, not judgmental.”
Of course, Walt Whitman had a number of salient reasons why he would wish people would treat him and others with curiosity, rather than condemnation.
To name just a few:
- He was the first poet to champion the use of free verse (who so many of the literary critics felt was a form of heresy —- and is why so many publishers refused to publish his work).