Thinking of Anne at 75, you’ve been an inspiration to me since I first discovered your work in the mid-1970s. Anne, the fast speaking woman, fearless and spontaneous, a brilliant poet/orator, editor, publisher, teacher, activist, and organizer: she “knows how to work the machines!”
I remember meeting you for a moment at Naropa in August 1978 and admiring your generous and welcoming presence. It was years later that we began to work on a series of book projects with favorite artists Donna Dennis, George Schneeman, and Susan Rothenberg; with Lewis Warsh we produced The Angel Hair Anthology as an act of recovery, and quoting Jerome Rothenberg, “… an archival masterpiece—the best of a time that’s now gone, though scarce forgotten—but an incitement to keep their work alive for a still newer generation.”
Much love to you, Anne.
STEVE CLAY is the publisher of Granary Books (https://www.granarybooks.com) as well as an editor, curator, and archivist specializing in literature and art of the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. He is the author or editor of several volumes, including Intermedia, Fluxus, and the Something Else Press: Selected Writings by Dick Higgins with Ken Friedman, Threads Talk Series with Kyle Schlesinger, A Book of the Book: Some Works & Projections about the Book & Writing with Jerome Rothenberg, A Secret Location on the Lower East Side: Adventures in Writing 1960-1980 (https://fromasecretlocation.com), with Rodney Phillips, and Poetics & Polemics, 1980-2005, with Jerome Rothenberg. He lives in New York City and Ancramdale, N.Y.