Athens, Ga. – Beat feminist poet and performer Anne Waldman will deliver a lecture and perform her poetry during a visit to the University of Georgia Nov. 3-7.
According to the Museum of American Poets, “Waldman is one of the most interesting, vibrant and unpredictable members of the post-Beat poetry community. She has been acknowledged as a major and mature voice in American poetry. She delves deeply into the masculine soul and its sources of energy. Her goal is to speak against, about, around and through the all-pervasive forces of Western patriarchy and its many manifestations.”
She has written more than 42 books, most recently Kill or Cure (Penguin Poets), and her book-length poem, Iovis (Coffee House Press). She currently is working on Book III of Iovis. Throughout the poem, Waldman is trying to come to terms with her own male energy and impulses.
She and fellow Beat poet Allen Ginsberg co-founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colo. in 1974. During the late 1960s, she ran the St. Mark’s Church Poetry Project and gave exuberant, highly physical readings of her own work. She was featured along with Ginsberg in Bob Dylan’s experimental film “Renaldo and Clara.”
On Nov. 3, Waldman will present a range of her poetry in a reading performance at 7 p.m. at Ciné, 234 W. Hancock Ave. She will use methods of modal structure and Sprechstimme (speak-singing) that she has made famous in her performances.
On Nov. 4, Waldman will read from her collaborations with visual artists, such as Red Grooms and Elizabeth Murray, at a Socratic Rap at Athica from 8-9:30 p.m. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. There is a suggested $6 donation, but no one will be turned away. For directions and more information, see http://athica.org/exhibit.php?ID=126.
On Nov. 7, Waldman will deliver a lecture titled “Outrider: The Role of the Poet as Activist,” at 4 p.m. at the Georgia Museum of Art. The lecture is described as a “feminafesto” about the role of the poet, drawing on Waldman’s investigative studies, her performance poetry and creative work in public space. A local group called the Teacher-Poets Collective will open with a poem for Waldman. There will be a question and answer session following the lecture.
Waldman’s visit is funded by a $10,000 Visiting Artist Grant from the Jane and Harry Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, based in the UGA Office of the Vice President for Research, to Melisa Cahnmann-Taylor, an associate professor of language and literacy education in the College of Education.
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