iammandyellen 's review for:

Fast Speaking Woman: Chants and Essays by Anne Waldman

4.0

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"I am a dissipative structure—a flowing apparent wholeness, highly organized but always in process. The more complex a dissipative structure, the more energy is needed to maintain all its connections. It is exceedingly vulnerable to internal fluctuations. Connections may only be sustained by a flow of energy; the system is always in flux. The more coherent the structure, the more unstable it is. This ironic instability is the key to transformation. This dissipation of energy creates the potential for sudden reordering. This does not have to be a slow process; it allows for spontaneity. In my view this is also the potential in poetry and in the performance of poetry." (127-8)

*Extraordinary associations give the chant/poem momentum and effect