A monumental day today – Anne Waldman‘s 80th birthday! – Last night, celebrations began with the premiere showing at the Anthology Film Archives of Alystyre Julian‘s long-awaited documentary film on Anne, Outrider. The film will show again today (and tomorrow).
Coming this summer – Mesopotopia
“Mesopotopia explores the vast sweep of our accelerating, precipitous world. From the cradle to the grave, from the mysterious poetic origins of Mesopotamia to our own dystopias of the twenty-first century, Anne Waldman crafts a singular, radical investigation into the syncretic layers of quantum space and dreamtime. She invokes “studying” as the most compelling ritual and tool for evolution and travels to various fellaheen worlds, treading metabolic pathways and ancient “antitheses realities,” and gleans sacred texts that speak urgently through the transports and telepathies of poetry. Troubadour dawn songs, pyramid texts, Buddhist mantras, canonical hours of Judeo-Christian tradition, Persian prayers, Druid sorcery, and the wild, gnarly syntax and modal structure of Waldman’s particular performative passion and wit are all conjured here.
What emerges is a meditation on the salient words of the French poet Antonin Artaud contemplating the destruction and rubble post–World War II: “We are not yet born, we are not yet in the world, there is not yet a world, things have not been made, the reason for being has not yet been found.” Mesopotopia—mythic maelstrom, rhythmic rite of passage, protolanguage trance dance—moves toward release and gnosis.”
Prior to that there’s another new book, Archivist Scissors, published by Staircase Books, launching at the end of the month
“Expertly fusing the personal and political, art and activism, the poems in Archivist Scissors document some of the legendary relationships Waldman has cultivated over her storied career, invoking such luminaries as Barbara Guest, Joe Brainard, Martha Diamond, and Alex Katz.”
Unbridled energy. Always the commitment to the tribe, to the excitement of communion, of inter-disciplinary action, of collaboration.
Here’s Anne’s recent breathtaking performance with the Douglas Dunn dance group (“L’embarquement pour Cythère”)
[Anne Waldman with Douglas Dunn and Grazia Della-Terza – photo by Julieta Cervantes]]
The Queen of the Tribe, Outrider and Energizer par excellence – Happy Birthday, Anne Waldman!
