A fascinating new work from an internationally renowned poet
Acclaimed for her
visionary, incantatory verse and her experimental ethos, Anne Waldman's newest b
ook-length poem is an allegory of a radical spirit in lockdown, dominated by "De
ciders" and "Imposters" who threaten the future of poetry and its archive. A dop
pelganger nightmare ensues: the imposter "Anne" is a succubus, and the original
Anne has to break free from a metaphorical castle of torture and psychological d
omination. There are travels through Vedic cosmology and ancient Japan before re
solution on a treeless tundra, where fragile life forms struggle to survive. Wal
dman's oracular poem is a witty meditation on identity theft and a searing plea
for the primacy of imagination and for collective sanity in our provocative yet
precarious time.
