Did I make myself quiet?
And watched from outside
as I
coo'ed
and
caw'ed
the musician of my vocal chords.

I watched videos of myself
too much,
the same noises now as
when I was a little girl
hogging the camera and putting on lipstick
to smack around the lens.

Did I make myself quiet?
Hoping that others would know
through my inabilities,
while shouting "Viva la revolution!",
to just hold me till I felt OK again.

And when you finally do hold me,
and it feels nice,
does it feel nice?
I suddenly don't feel very independent anymore,

and the worst part is
I make myself that way.

I asked you to make me feel
quiet,
so do I make myself this way?

Touch, touch, baby!
Tickle, tickle.
He puts my scarf in his mouth,
just the fringe
and I grab it from him
to shove the soft material
up my nose.
Getting the same satisfaction
I did
when I too,
was only 6 months old.

http://whitmanarchive.org/multimedia/image115.html?sort=year&order=ascending&page=9

naked whitman?