Spiritual models for me are the communities of Tibetans living in exile in India, or the banjars of Bali, which exist in times of difficulty, oppression. Alternative spaces-perhaps this kind of communication can take place over the Net? Probably only up to a point as the Net's controlled by the military. But the idea is to live outside multi-national, monocultural, commodification prison, outside the grey areas of power-mad, monied collusion.
Anne WaldmanI think anything that gets people outside [is good] - I'm a big supporter of public parks and public spaces.
Anne WaldmanIt's so rich as a trope - the whole idea of the road and it being in terms of language, being an active experience.
Anne WaldmanMy mother started taking us to church when I was in seventh or eight grade. That was always a question, Do you believe in God?
Anne WaldmanI'm curious about other universes, and nonhuman elementals. For me it's still a very lively ethos. It's a kind of practice. It's an ethos that is very sustaining.
Anne WaldmanWhen students are first at the Kerouac School we harp on Gertrude Stein's very basic poetic insistence that words are things . Not to invalidate your experience or all the great feelings you have, I tell them. Although poetry may be good for you, it's not therapy. You're making something with words which are visceral, muscular, active, not just markers of how you feel. And we have classes studying William Blake, Ezra Pound, Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Stein.
Anne Waldman