I was an M.F.A. student at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute circa 1994.
The second year was very difficult, and I struggled to come up with a thesis and a build a coherent manuscript. Then my thesis advisor refused to work with me. Anne Waldman was my angel and agreed to read it all. How shocked I was, working odd jobs and living at my parents house in 1995, to get her dense and beautiful letter in response to this body of work, affirming the practice of writing. I last saw Anne in 1997 at Shambala Center in NYC. I told her I was pregnant. She said, “Oh my!” and started fanning herself. Then we did the meditation.
—Karin Falcone Krieger
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Karin Falcone Krieger (karinfalconekrieger.com) lives and writes in Oyster Bay, N.Y. She is a staff writer at Able News, covering disability rights.