The poets Anzaldua and Waldman

The Women Poets

While reading Gloria Anzaldua from Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza and Anne Waldman from Fast Speaking Woman instantly saw a connect. I saw that two women were poets and loved to write. In some pages in the reading their are poems that either mean something to the poet or a poem written by them. To me when I was reading Anzaldua I felt it was more personal almost as if she was speaking to me personally. Anzadula spoke in first person point of view throughout the reading. In Waldman reading she also speaks in first person point of view.  After reading Waldmans reading the  vibe I get is that she wanted to represent women in the best way possible. In Waldman reading, theres a poem on pages 171-173. In this poem it talks about different types of women.  Anzaldua and Waldman from both talks about cultures or images leading to shaman. In Waldman reading, for example  “A voyage triggered durable interest in Meso-American and South American tantra. Tantra literally means continuity in the Tibertan Buddhist sense”(175). Throughout Waldmans reading it  seems like she did a lot of traveling. I think that’s why she talks a lot about different cultures and women. I think traveling give her a lot inspiration as a poet. In Anzadula reading talks about images, for example, “When I create stories in my head, that is, allow the voices and scenes to be projected in the inner screen of my mind, I trance. I used to think I was going crazy or that I was having hallucinations. But now realize it is my job, my calling, to traffic in images”(187). I remember reading both reading I saw that  Waldman mention Shaman in her reading. For example,“The fierce images, the state of mind one perceive in Olmec, Toltec, Aztec, Maya iconography are not unlike the fierce shamanic deities of Tibertan Buddhism” She speaks about the shaman healer, what I think she means it also has do with of Buddhism culture. I thought after reading both reading was also instantly connect with Shaman. Also I like that Waldman talks about how she started writing and stories from her father to be creative. I think Azaldua and Waldman both wrote poems for different purpose but end up connected in some way shape or form.

Gloria Azaldua

Anne Waldman