“The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem…not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations.” —Walt Whitman (from the Leaves of Grass preface, 1855)

Our ambitious undertaking to bring Colombari’s WHITMAN ON WALLS! (WoW!) to all 50 states in the USA in celebration of the 250th anniversary of The Declaration of Independence is in full swing, led by our Tour Prodcer & PR/Marketing Director, Cindy Sibilsky. If you'd like to explore bringing WoW! to your city, please contact cindy@colombari.org. 

Whitman on Walls! (WoW!) is a hybrid event bringing living poets and film together, like a movie screening meets a poetry slam. In response to the performance cancellations in 2020, Compagnia de' Colombari and Artistic Director Karin Coonrod turned the original stage production of More Or Less I Am, based on “Song of Myself,” into seven short films.

In WoW! live events, each film is followed by a local poet or performer who responds to Whitman’s poetry or the themes in the films in their own words or expressions. Film, live recitation and performance are woven together, expanding the Whitmanic vision of democratic interdependence. In collaboration with institutional partners and living poets across the globe, WoW! activates our communities toward unity and freedom.

We invite poets, spoken word and visual artists, musicians, lyricists, dancers and performers into the event. Multiple Poet Laureates from Connecticut, New York, Florida, and award-winning artists have participated in WoW! events across the nation. All participating artists or groups of artists receive a published Anthology of the poems, songs and images from the Whitman on Walls! they took part in.

To better understand WoW! and its effect on poets and communities, please read this marvelous feature by Kate Abbott, "Contemporary Poets Share Songs of Polyphonic Selves," first published in the Berkshire Eagle, May 3, 2025, now on BTW Berkshires covering Colombari's collaboration with Tupelo Press at The Clark. The poems from that WoW! event were included in Tupelo Quarterly's special feature curated by Sam Magavern. 

Whitman on Walls!  is designed to work in partnership with theaters, libraries, museums, community groups, writers groups, performance collectives, universities, publishing houses, and educators, bringing stakeholders to the table to create opportunities to collaborate, write, read, perform, and hold contextual conversations.

The films include performances by David Patrick Kelly, Juliana Francis Kelly, Michael Potts, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Steven Skybell, Trazana Beverley, Carl Hancock Rux, Christina Robinson, John Douglas Thompson, Peter Gerety, and Linda Powell. The films feature original music composed and performed by Colin Jacobsen (violin), Kyle Sanna (guitar), Eric Jacobsen (cello), and Alex Sopp (flute) who are founding members of The Brooklyn Rider and The Knights chamber orchestras.

Each poem performed during the first WoW!  tours were included in the WoW! Anthology: Volume 1. This first volume includes poems from poets across the globe who participated in 2022. WoW! poems from poets participating in events in 2023-2024 comprise the WoW! Anthology: Volume 2, debuting April 2025, with future WoW! Anthology volumes to follow. Antholgies will be sold at WoW! events across the USA. To purchase these books, please please write to info@colombari.org.

Whitman on Walls (WoW!) Tour Dates:

October 16, 2026: Dallas, TX, Live Event at Broadway Dallas Music Hall for the State Fair of Texas

October 11, 2026: Minneapolis, MN, at The Parkway Theater (4814 Chicago Ave) with live music and poetry

September 26, 2026: Dallas, TX, Live Event at Broadway Dallas Music Hall for the State Fair of Texas

September 25-October 18, 2026: Daily screenings of at Broadway Dallas Music Hall for the State Fair of Texas

November 8, 2025: Winter Park, FL at Rollins College Mills Lawn & Olin Library

September-October: WoW! workshops and performance at Taconic Correctional Facilities, Bedford Hills, NY

September 20, 2025: Staten Island, NYC, at Alice Austen House

June 23, 2025: New Haven, CT, The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

May 3, 2025: Williamstown, MA, The Clark Art Institute with Tupelo Press poets

April 3, 2025: Manhattan, NYC, WoW! Anthology Vol. 2 Book Launch at The City College of NY 

February 18, 2026: WoW! Workshops at Taconic Correctional Facilities, Bedford Hills, NY

October 26, 2024: Queens, NYC, St. John's University

September 25-29, 2024: Santa Fe, NM, Academy for the Love of Learning

May 5, 2024: Harlem, NYC, Denny Farrell Riverbank State Park Robert Frederick Smith Center
March 25, 2024: Stony Brook, NY, SUNY Stonybrook

November 16, 2023: Buffalo, NY, collaboration with the Calmus Project at Burchfield Penney Art Center

September 29, 2022: Brooklyn, NYC, Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club

September 22, 2022: Newburyport, MA, The Custom House 

September 17, 2022: Toledo, OH, Momentum Festival

September 16, 2022: Bronx, NYC, Gaelic Park- Manhattan College

August 20, 2022: Philadelphia, PA, Venice Island Performing Arts Center

August 18, 2022: Syracuse, NY, Everson Museum

August 5, 2022: Portland, Maine, Congress Square

June 7, 2022: London, UK, Conway Hall

May 28, 2022: Bolton, UK, Bolton Museum Art Gallery

Watch Video Hightlights from Whitman on Walls! Inaugural Year 2022 HERE