Description
The expansive, countercultural, and wildly prolific life of celebrated poet Anne Waldman, in her own words.
In Bard, Kinetic, Anne Waldman assembles a layered compendium of essays, letters, poems, and interviews that form a panoramic portrait of life and praxis as a groundbreaking poet. Waldman charts her journey through a maelstrom of radical artistic activity, from growing up in Greenwich Village, to her creative partnership with Allen Ginsberg and touring with Bob Dylan. She recalls founding the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church and later the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University and discusses the political and artistic philosophy that guides her activities as writer, activist, performer, instigator, and Buddhist practitioner. Throughout Bard, Kinetic, Waldman pays homage to friends and collaborators, many of whom are no longer with us, including Amiri Baraka, Lou Reed, John Ashbery, and Diane di Prima. Waldman's experiences serve as a guide for others committed to making the world a more conscious and conscientious place that soars with poetry.
In Bard, Kinetic, Anne Waldman assembles a layered compendium of essays, letters, poems, and interviews that form a panoramic portrait of life and praxis as a groundbreaking poet. Waldman charts her journey through a maelstrom of radical artistic activity, from growing up in Greenwich Village, to her creative partnership with Allen Ginsberg and touring with Bob Dylan. She recalls founding the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church and later the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University and discusses the political and artistic philosophy that guides her activities as writer, activist, performer, instigator, and Buddhist practitioner. Throughout Bard, Kinetic, Waldman pays homage to friends and collaborators, many of whom are no longer with us, including Amiri Baraka, Lou Reed, John Ashbery, and Diane di Prima. Waldman's experiences serve as a guide for others committed to making the world a more conscious and conscientious place that soars with poetry.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for Bard, Kinetic"Rather than a memoir . . . this energetic assemblage creates its own fragmented chronology, looping through the whirlwind of contexts-literary, political, spiritual, familial-that constitute Waldman's immense bardic self." -Nick Sturm, Poetry Foundation
"Literary boundary-pushers require loyalty, understanding, and close attention from their readers, and this compendium is no exception. . . . The text rewards readers with moments of oracular clarity."-Kirkus"Anne Waldman has tirelessly cleared the path for many of us for decades. 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! Waldman's extensive study of the global perception of the Sixth Extinction through the lives of poets comes to light in this powerful new book, which is a record of the cycles of cosmic transit! She writes, 'Feeling everyone's kinetics in that zone. But also all together swimming in a database. Imagine.'" -CAConrad
"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." -Lisa Jarnot
"I am tempted to describe the genius of the work in these radiant pages with a bounty of adjectives, but that would be a disservice to its restless momentum. Besides, Anne Waldman doesn't settle for nouns and their obsequious companions. More than dance in the range of numinous texts collected here, her intellect spins ferociously, shaking off the patriarchy's layers of concealment one after another. For Gertrude Stein, another towering figure in the Outrider lineage, 'writing should go on.' For Waldman it must do so as well, but further than the page and into the world. Goading us is just one of her gifts. To read her is to be humbled by the breadth of her vocation, to be jolted into alertness." -Monica de la Torre
"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." -Laurie Anderson
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
MN
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-56689-623-8 (9781566896238)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Anne Waldman is the author of numerous volumes of poetry, including the feminist epic The Iovis Trilogy: Colors in The Mechanism of Concealment, which won the Pen Center USA Award for Poetry in 2012. Other recent books include Manatee/Humanity, Gossamurmur, Jaguar Harmonics, and the anthology Cross Worlds: Transcultural Poetics(Coffee House Press 2014, coedited with Laura Wright). She is a recipient of the Shelley Memorial Award and the Guggenheim Fellowship, and is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She has been at the forefront of cultural activism, and is one of the founders of the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church and a cofounder with Allen Ginsberg of the celebrated Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, the first Buddhist-inspired university in the west. Her work has been published in translation in many languages, most recently French and Finnish.