Isn't that the guy who goes on about tomatoes?

I think the author was probably referring to works such as "I Sing the Body Electric" line when referring to Walt Whitman as "sexy and world embracing."

Sexy Walt Whitman?

I think it's a guy thing.

(But I don't remember Whitman going on about tomatoes. He's the one who kept going on about democracy and man's divinity and Lincoln's death.)