The poetry of us: with favorites from Maya Angelou, Walt Whitman, Gwendolyn Brooks, and more : more than 200 poems that celebrate the people, places, and passions of the United States

Experience the great diversity of America on a trip through each of the 50 states and the many cultures, traditions, histories, and passions that define us. Taste sweet blueberries and baked beans in New England, hear the bustle of city music and the call of market vendors in the Mid-Atlantic, and watch the sunrise over gentle ridges and silent swamps in the Southeast. Attend city parades and small-town festivals in the Midwest, join cowboys and songwriters in the Great Plains, sweep through sleeping deserts and running rivers in the Rocky Mountain West, and dive into the salty seas, sylvan valleys, and snowy shorelines of the Pacific Coast. From Langston Hughes's Alabama mornings to Edna St. Vincent Millay's New York ferry rides, distinctive voices celebrate the spirit that unites us.