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
Karin Falcone Krieger (karinfalconekrieger.com) lives and writes in Oyster Bay, N.Y. She is a staff writer at Able News, covering disability rights.