A fascinating new work from an internationally renowned poet
Acclaimed for her visionary, incantatory verse and her experimental
ethos, Anne Waldman's newest book-length poem is an allegory of a
radical spirit in lockdown, dominated by "Deciders" and "Imposters" who
threaten the future of poetry and its archive. A doppelganger nightmare
ensues: the imposter "Anne" is a succubus, and the original Anne has to
break free from a metaphorical castle of torture and psychological
domination. There are travels through Vedic cosmology and ancient Japan
before resolution on a treeless tundra, where fragile life forms
struggle to survive. Waldman'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.