"What Is the Grass may be the definitive book on Whitmans life, afterlife and poetry. But its [ in] the moments in Dotys own life...that the book truly glistens." -- Jessica Ferri - Los Angeles Times "An incisive, personal meditation." -- New York Times Book Review "Doty puts on a clinic in how to read closely but expansively, going back to Whitmans greatest poems, bouncing them off incidents in his own life, but also the work of his contemporaries...This is shining proof that criticism can make you want to hold it close." -- John Freeman - LitHub "A masterful example [ of the hybrid memoir]weaving a close reading of Whitmans life and writings into Dotys own ruminations on art, queerness, humanism, and the American experience." -- Arianna Rebolini - Buzzfeed "Doty is a reverential penitent before the greatest American poet, giving an account of how his own subjective experience intersects with that of the singer of Song of Myself....What Doty most shares with Whitman, however, is a heretics faith in language, both its promise and its failures." -- Ed Simon - The Millions "[ Doty] reveals a profound understanding of Whitman's life and poetry...Throughout, the author exudes an exuberance about life and words that rivals that of his subject...A captivating paean to Whitman combined with unblinking self-examination." -- Kirkus Reviews "What is the Grass is a deep-dive into Walt Whitmans life, work, worldview, and something that feels like his cosmic theology. As if that werent enough, were also invited into Mark Dotys own candid self-seeking, in episodes of the authors life rendered in generous complexity. This beautiful, ingenious book affirms my belief in language as a living thing, and in the universe as a place overflowing with purpose and meaning. I wish all of the great poets could be reintroduced to me in such fashion!" -- Tracy K. Smith "Quick-witted, slyly erotic, and sometimes ecstatic, this book explores Mark Dotys relationship with Walt Whitman, or with the idea of Walt Whitman. It is intimate in its reality and in all that it imagines, and it captures with splendid lyricism the authors generous obsession with his forebear. Mark Doty has written a literate and lovely volume." -- Andrew Solomon
