Just returned from a weekend retreat at Zen Mountain Monastery at Mt. Tremper, NY, just down the road from us near Woodstock. Been wanting to go for sometime and hopefully my husband and I will go there again soon. I had the opportunity to do a "Dakini Poetics" poetry/zen retreat with my favorite poet, Anne Waldman, that blasted through the kleshas like a broken levee in the 9th ward. These "experiements of attention" were a healing balm for the mind of logos/critique that dominates my existence these days. Anne also gave a performance that was open to the community; a packed house of monks, lay zennies and Woodstock hippies.
Her new work - Manatee/Humanity - seems important to this world in ways I didn't know poetry could even be. After having an encounter with a manatee at a Florida aquarium, she vowed to write a poem about it, and it turned into an entire book length poem. These creatures have more grey matter than humans and have a mother/child bond that is incredibly deep; she explores this primal creature, giving it voice in ways that only she could.
