What I propose for the "life of a poet" goes against the grain of the fossil fuel monoculture. Maybe the most revolutionary act these days is not to watch television and to read a book a day at least. Anne Waldman More Quotes by Anne Waldman More Quotes From Anne Waldman My older brother was involved in the folk movement. We would gather every weekend in Washington Park. The folk songs were so important to my reality. Anne Waldman weekend brother song I think of my father growing up in South Jersey, the son of second-generation German immigrant glassblowers. The opportunities for him of feeling that aspiration, that yearning, get out of the small town, connect to a larger world, get yourself to New York, wanting to play the piano at every opportunity, bonding with people who were on a similar path, ending up in Provincetown, which was kind of nexus for nonconformity, and artistic dropout reality. Anne Waldman growing-up new-york father I think of my father born in this very small, limited situation and then coming out of that. Many people have this story. Anne Waldman father people thinking The music is notated first, the text follows. I might have to wait until the right kind of text or form arises. I often see the poems as “scores.” Anne Waldman waiting might firsts My father was a frustrated writer. I think he wanted to write the great American novel. Anne Waldman writing father thinking Contemporary movies just drive me crazy. The violence and the sentimentality and the spiritual materialism and Theism and the incredible indulgence in ignorance is so claustrophobic. Anne Waldman crazy ignorance spiritual I was going to public school in the post-World War II, the grey doldrum years. But I was in this extraordinary environment of Manhattan, of Greenwich Village, of bohemian parents. Anne Waldman war years school My last bedside conversation in the hospital just a few weeks before Allen Ginsberg died was 'please take care of so and so. And the legacy of the Kerouac school. Anne Waldman legacy care school I still had to correct Allen Ginsberg at times when he called women girls. I'd say. Allen please, it's not politically correct. Anne Waldman ginsberg please girl Idea that all the beats are wildly liberal and progressive is ridiculous. You have people thinking for themselves and having certain affinities because of their upbringing and who their family are, their own people who were close to them who fought in these wars and so on. It's complicated. But they had that ability to continue the conversation. Anne Waldman war ideas thinking How infuriating it is to be continually born to war that continues one's whole lifetime, even as one protests it - what futility. It is perhaps a more public epic in this regard, and carries a ritual vocalization. Anne Waldman epic lifetime war When I got back to NY had the opportunity to work with the beginning years of the poetry project which was founded with money from the OEO under Lyndon Johnson to work with alienated youth on the lower East side. This was extraordinary, to be able to help then to create a culture that would capture the energy that I felt at Berkley. Anne Waldman able opportunity years My love of poetry comes from the "actualization" I experienced in the poetry of others. And I was reading it silently and there is deep pleasure in that intimacy, a mind-to-mind transfer going on. All the music is there, inherently. And mystery as well. Anne Waldman mystery reading mind If you can integrate your life to have a kind of meditative practice that is considering others. Anne Waldman integrating kind practice We humans need to do better with our vast minds and alchemical powers. Future radial poetries might be more symbiotic with the rest of consciousness. Anne Waldman mind might needs For me the road became a zone, in places like Saint Marks poetry Project where I worked for 12 years. Anne Waldman projects saint years The puzzle and conundrums of Emily Dickinson's poetry or The Cantos, by Ezra Pound, is infinitely pleasurable. Or Ronald Johnson's Ark. And the experience extends a whole lifetime. But the intensity of certain vocalized language affects our bodies in a particular way, and that further actualization propels me. The Greeks explored this; there were very particular meters used in making war, different ones for a love chant. Anne Waldman ark greek war Literal thousands of Americans taking to the road and getting into that green automobile and just going. At the same time there is real incredible work [of art] that comes out of it. Never forget that. Anne Waldman green real art I think of the amazing things that were going on. So it's so rich. The doors keep opening. Anne Waldman rich doors thinking I like the idea of the object, the relic. And I see it as a time machine too or a device you plug into a socket that activates a sound and light show. Anne Waldman light sound ideas
