Live Oak, with Moss

Live Oak, with Moss is a groundbreaking literary treasure that reveals a hidden chapter in Walt Whitman’s life and work. In this stunning edition, New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Award–winning illustrator Brian Selznick brings Whitman’s words to life.

As we was turning forty, Whitman wrote twelve deeply personal poems in a handmade notebook he titled Live Oak, with Moss. These verses were intimate meditations on love, desire, and connection―specifically his attraction to and affection for other men―expressed with honesty and vulnerability.

Composed decades before the term “homosexual” entered common usage, these poems stand as Whitman’s boldest exploration of same-sex love. They were revolutionary for their time, both in theme and in emotional candor, yet Whitman never published them. For more than a century, this passionate cluster of poems remained unknown to the general public, a secret fragment of literary history waiting to be rediscovered.

Brian Selznick visual narrative amplifies the beauty and intensity of the poetry. And accompanying Selznick’s art, Whitman scholar Karen Karbiener reconstructs the fascinating story behind the creation―and near destruction―of these poems, offering insight into Whitman’s inner world and the cultural forces that shaped his work.

By reassembling and reinterpreting these extraordinary poems, this edition invites readers to experience Whitman anew―through words and images that resonate with timeless themes of love, identity, and freedom.

Walt Whitman's reassembled, reinterpreted Live Oak, with Moss serves as a source of inspiration and a cause for celebration.

Walt Whitman is one of the most beloved poets in American letters, best known for his Leaves of Grass. Brian Selznick is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck, among many other beloved books for children. Live Oak, with Moss is his first book for adults. He lives in Brooklyn and San Diego. Karen Karbiener is a Whitman scholar at New York University. She lives in Manhattan.