The Iovis Trilogy: Colors in the Mechanism of Concealment

The Iovis Trilogy: Colors in the Mechanism of Concealment

Published for the first time in its entirety, this major epic poem assures Anne Waldman’s place in the pantheon of contemporary poetry. The Iovis Trilogy , Waldman’s monumental feminist epic, traverses epochs, cultures, and genres to create a visionary call to poetic arms. Iovis details the misdeeds of the Patriarch, and with a fierce imagination queries and subverts his warmongering. All of Waldman’s themes come into focus—friendship, motherhood, politics, and Buddhist wisdom. This is epic poetry that goes beyond the old injunction “to include history”—its effort is to change history. Praise for The Iovis Trilogy “A book to admire, to pay homage to, to get lost in, Waldman’s epic goes splendidly on and on, mixing the shamanistic with the diaristic, the topical with the prayerful, incorporating almost everything. ” — Publishers Weekly , starred review “The three books collected in The Iovis Trilogy . . . together show the force of Waldman’s galloping collection of forms as a vibration of knowledge through ceaseless experiment, a sensorium through which the roundness of self burrows in to win the furthest circumference.” — Poetry Project Newsletter “This dense, mythic, personal cycle that looks at life, relationships, and war is an altogether admirable achievement.” — Time Out New York “Waldman’s Iovis is the first major epic to be completed in the twenty-first century and it is likely to remain one of the best as the century proceeds and other poets weigh in with theirs.” — A Gathering of the Tribes “An epic, richly textured poem exploring the manifestations of patriarchy, braiding history and myth, Buddhist philosophy, and conversation snippets.” — Shambhala Sun “Encompassing over twenty years of personal, national, and international comportment, The Iovis Trilogy tracks familial and marital relationships, numerous wars, and encounters with other cultures and human visages, male and female, in person and via letter.” —Alice Notley “We are lovely people for each other when we read Iovis together. We are forces of good together.” — Jacket2 Anne Waldman is an internationally renowned poet, performer, and Distinguished Professor of Poetics at Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. She is the co-editor of Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action and the author of over forty books, including In the Room of Never Grieve and Vow to Poetry: Essays, Interviews, & Manifestos .