Bard, Kinetic, Anne Waldman‘s latest collection, is published today
Laurie Anderson writes:
“Sweeping and intimate, fierce and electric, Anne Waldman is seer, muse, and sage feminist, fast-talking on all frequencies. Bard, Kinetic is a collection of poems; deep, sharp, generous portraits – feminafestos – ; and ecstatic rants in her many voices. She notices, expounds, narrates, yodels. The book is full of questions. It’s urgent, physical, ancient and utterly contemporary. What to name the child of the crossroad? Poetry! Her words dance and spin through sources (the Tarot, The Tibetan Book of the Dead) and places (New York, Boulder, India). Words that come to mind: Sanctuary. Old growth trees. The mind and heart of poetry. What a colossal life and what a monumental, unforgettable book.”
Poet, Lisa Jarnot:
“Kinetic, yes. Prophetic also. Boundlessly generous, of course. This is the Anne Waldman I know. What a pleasure it is to find everything here: every ancestral memory, every important question, every exhortation to stay human in an inhumane century. If you are curious about the value of poets and poetry, peer into this magic mirror, drink from this deep and wide and entirely remarkable archive.”
“Anne Waldman has tirelessly cleared the path for many of us for decades”, writes C.A.Conrad. “She is our epitome of the word onward, which means to move forward in a continuous motion, never stopping because surrender is out of the question..”
“Goading us is just one of her gifts”, notes Mónica de la Torre. “To read her is to be humbled by the breadth of her vocation, to be jolted into alertness”
Coffee House Press, her publishers, write:
In Bard, Kinetic, Anne Waldman assembles a multifaceted portrait of her life and praxis as a groundbreaking poet. Waldman charts her journey through a maelstrom of radical artistic activity – growing up in Greenwich Village, creative partnership with Allen Ginsberg, touring with Bob Dylan, and founding the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church and later, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. She discusses the philosophies that guide her as a writer, activist, performer, instigator, and Buddhist practitioner, and pays homage to friends and collaborators including Amiri Baraka, Lou Reed, John Ashbery, Kathy Acker, and Diane di Prima. Waldman’s experiences serve as a guide for others committed to making the world a conscious and conscientious place that soars with the discourse and activism of poetry and poethics (sic).”
More, much more, on Anne Waldman can be found on her voluminous web-site – here