"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" by Walt Whitman |

Brooklyn Public Library celebrates the bicentennial of Walt Whitman's birthday with a full recitation of "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" featuring Brooklynites reading Whitman's iconic words aloud in locations all across the borough he loved, and in our libraries.

READERS
(in order of appearance)

1. Karen Karbiener
2. Tina Chang
3. Nick Higgins
4. Emerald Carter
5. Ramya Ramana
6. Carolina Salguero
7. Ellie White
8. Alex Tretiak
9. Jimmy White
10. Stefan Killen
11. Norman Eriksen
12. Meryl Friedman
13. Grant Leveille
14. Brad Vogel
15. Krissa Corbett Cavouras
16. Torrey Maldonado
17. Janet Conton
18. Jason Koo
19. Christopher Encarnacion
20. Lillian Cobbett
21. Arlo Krupat
22. Nicole Mitchell
23. Mike Fieni
24. Maya Wagoner
25. Carlos Menchaca
26. Emily Sernaker
27. Marcia McGibbon
28. Brenda Bentt-Peters
29. Linda E. Johnson
30. Brian Smith
31. Ben Purkert
32. Sharon Tidwell
33. Rachel Tiemann
34. Carl Fossum
35. Gregory Pardlo
36. Izabela Barry
37. Amanda Deutch
38. Mahogany L. Browne
39. Juliette DeCastro
40. Marina Reza
41. Roman DeCastro
42. Jackie Cuscuna
43. Felice Belle
44. Beth Applebaum
45. Boris Ioselev
46. Calliope Castro



***

This film was shot on location in the Coney Island, Fort Greene, Red Hook, Brooklyn Heights, and DUMBO neighborhoods of Brooklyn, as well as in our libraries: Coney Island Library, Red Hook Library, Walt Whitman Library, Brooklyn Heights Library, Sunset Park Library and Central Library.

Additional locations include aboard the Mary A. Whalen and inside Sunny’s Bar in Red Hook, in front of Deno’s Wonder Wheel in Coney Island, and on the steps of the Fireboat House in Brooklyn Bridge Park. For sharing these beautiful spaces with us, we are particularly grateful to Carolina Salguero of Portside NY, not to mention Chiclet, Tone Johansen of Sunny’s Bar, Jackie Cuscuna & Brian Smith of Ample Hills Creamery, and the Vourderis family of Deno’s Amusement Park. The Deathbed edition of the “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” was the text we used for this project.

Special thanks to Robin Lester Kenton, Lexy Mayers, Moira Peckham, Izabela Barry, Ian Mazour and Naila Rosario at Brooklyn Public Library for their support, and to the parents at the Maurice Sendak Community School for bringing our youngest readers to the project with such enthusiasm. Thanks to Emily Sernaker and Greg Trupiano for helping recruit readers, and to Amanda Deutch for bringing us to the Wonder Wheel. Boundless gratitude to Tina Chang, Brooklyn’s own Poet Laureate, for connecting us with so many fellow poets and young readers and for championing the project.

Most of all, to everyone who participated in the film by reading excerpts of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry—thank you for sharing your time with us, and for your enthusiasm. We love you, there is perfection in you also.

Brooklyn Public Library is the nation’s sixth largest library system and among the borough’s most democratic civic institutions. We offer 70,000 free programs a year for people from all walks of life—immigrants learning a new language, students preparing for college, older adults seeking companionship, aspiring entrepreneurs launching their dreams, children discovering the world and people of all ages exploring arts and culture. And we provide patrons 3.9 million opportunities to enjoy one of life’s greatest satisfactions: the discovery of a good book.

Thanks also to the Poetry Foundation for its support of our Walt Whitman 200th Birthday Celebration