I come going from place to place from the origin: notes toward a tradition of fast moving poems

Abstract

Walking, wandering, driving, flying, cycling, travelling. Movement is crucial to the inspiration for and ongoing creation of Anne Waldman’s signature poem ‘Fast Speaking Woman’ (1975). Waldman has called it ‘a road piece’ (2004, 270). She recollects how she was travelling through Mexico when she first came across the chants of María Sabina, and it was Sabina’s transcribed and translated words which inspired a poem that began in Colombia then grew in Ecuador, Machu Picchu, New York City (Waldman 2003, 176) and India (Waldman 1975, inset). ‘Fast Speaking Woman’ has remained current for over 30 years in published form and in performance. It keeps appearing in classroom curricula and Waldman continues to morph it whenever she performs.