Philip Levine, Poet Laureate of the U.S. for 2011-2012 (poets laureate are appointed for two year terms) divides his time between California and Brooklyn Heights, but as he says in the video you can see after the jump, Brooklyn is what he calls home. The video, published by the Cortland Review, starts in Levine’s residence, then follows him from the North Heights to Old Fulton Street and the Eagle Warehouse building, where a plaque commemorates Walt Whitman, whom Levine calls America’s greatest poet. He then goes to the Fulton Ferry Pier, where words from Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” are displayed on the guard railing. Levine finds inspiration in these places. It’s obvious from the fact that Grimaldi’s is in its old location and 8 Spruce Street/”New York by Gehry” is still under construction that this video was made a while ago.
We earlier posted a link to another video, of Levine reading his poem “Two Voices” about an incident on the Promenade.
