In "From Manatee/Humanity [1]" she implores
the reader not to forget their spirituality "sing
manatee, manatee (you'd better praise all you can
he said) all the trembling day)". Here Waldman
takes on the role as spiritual leader and High
Priestess. In “Makeup on empty space” Waldman
is casting the spell of a shamaness “I bind the
hanging light, the drifting night, the moaning
light, daughter of troubled sleep”. Here Waldman
“takes off from the idea in Buddhist psychology
that the feminine energy tends to manifest in the
world, adjourning empty space, what we see in the
world, the phenomena, is created by feminine
energy". This new energy and immediacy present
in Walden's psalmist poetics is reminiscent of
Pound's "Absolute poetics". In "Berthe Morisot"
she summons the viscera of the human form,
McClure's "Bare eye and body" when she states
"Its getting close to motion…Oh
Skeleton…BONE".Waldman's work is erudite,
provocative and innovative using chants,
mantras, dreams, ecstasy, Dionysian mysteries
and soul projection to achieve her distinctive
poetic signature. Waldman is the definitive
performer and mediator, at times almost possessed
by the spirits she conjures. Her shamanistic
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