[ Wed Nov 30 11 ]

Anne Waldman performed excerpts from and spoke about her 1,000-pg feminist epic poem The Iovis Triolgy, which she’s been working on for 25 years and just published for the first time in its entirety with Coffee House Press, at San Francisco State University’s Poetry Center. She was in conversation with the Poetry Center’s Director Steve Dickison.

Above is the entire program. Click “Play” to watch all, “Next” to skip forward, or the small “Insert” screen (to the right of the video time) to see thumbnails and watch them directly. Below is a basic guide to the topics discussed in each video:

1. Dickison introduces Waldman
2. Waldman reads from the introduction to the third and final section, Book III, “Eternal War”
3. A performative excerpt
4. a) Buddhist influences: personal vs. universal b) Both, Both vs. Either/Or c) Identity as construct—”the transgendering mind”—and the basis of love d) Paterson, Maximus, and family history
5. a) Colors and their psychological properties b) Concealment as liberty or democracy c) How it feels to be finished: the rattlesnake d) The precious value of archiving: Archive.org and The Poetry Center’s Archives e) Spontaneous poetics and the unedited speech of others
6. The timeliness of The Iovis Trilogy, especially in relation to Occupy Wall Street
7. a) The editing process: form vs. content b) The long poem c) The war of the spirit
8. The long poem at SFSU and info on other performances, including a special musical sneak preview (begins: “Dick Cheney did not serve…”)