Legendary poet Anne Waldman to give reading October 29

Documentary portrait of poet-performer-activist, Outrider, screens Oct. 21

Saratoga Springs, NY (October 6, 2026) — The Tang Museum at Skidmore College presents Dharma Gaze, a poetry reading by Anne Waldman, on Thursday, October 29, at 6 pm in the museum’s Payne Room. A screening of Outrider, filmmaker Alystyre Julian’s portrait of Waldman, precedes the reading on Wednesday, October 21, at 6 pm. Both events are free and open to the public.

A poet, performer, and cultural activist, Waldman is the author of more than 70 volumes of poetry, poetics, and anthologies. She co-founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University and has brought poetry into conversation with music, performance, and collaborative artistic practice. Her books include The Iovis Trilogy: Colors in the Mechanism of Concealment, Trickster Feminism, and Bard, Kinetic.

The title Dharma Gaze draws on Waldman’s engagement with Buddhism and its relationship to poetry. She uses the phrase to describe a practice of seeing “things as they are,” with an awareness that looks beyond a fixed sense of self.

The reading will be introduced by Ben Bogin, Associate Professor of Asian Studies, and Maggie Greaves, Associate Professor of English, who teach the Skidmore course “Buddhism and Poetry.” It is co-presented by the Department of Asian Studies, the English Department, and the Tang.

The October 21 screening of Outrider (2025, 101 minutes) offers audiences an opportunity to encounter Waldman’s work before hearing her read in person. The film follows her creative life and collaborations, bringing viewers into artistic circles that include Patti Smith, Meredith Monk, Bob Dylan, Laurie Anderson, Thurston Moore, and Pat Steir.

The screening takes place in the Tang’s Somers Room and will also be introduced by Bogin and Greaves. It is co-presented by the Department of Asian Studies, the English Department, MDOCS, Media and Film Studies, and the Tang.

For more information, visit tang.skidmore.edu or call the Tang Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080.

About Anne Waldman

Poet, professor, performer, librettist, founder of poetry communities, and cultural activist Anne Waldman is the author of over 70 volumes of poetry, poetics, and anthologies including The Iovis Trilogy: Colors in The Mechanism of Concealment (Coffee House Press, 2011), which won the Pen Center Literary Prize. Penguin has published her books over many years, including Trickster Feminism (2018), Manatee/Humanity (2007), Marriage: A Sentence (2000), and Structure of the World Compared to a Bubble (2004), among seven other volumes. Her album SCIAMACHY was released in 2020 by Fast Speaking Music and has been described by Patti Smith as, “exquisitely potent, a psychic shield for our times.”

Waldman co-founded the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics program at Naropa University with some of the most celebrated poets in America, including poets of the Beat Generation. She was the keynote speaker for the Bob Dylan and the Beats Conference in Tulsa in the Spring of 2022, and she wrote the libretto for the critically acclaimed Grammy-nominated opera/movie Black Lodge (2024) with music by composer David T. Little that premiered at Opera Philadelphia. Publishers Weekly has called Anne Waldman a “counter-cultural giant.” Waldman is most recently the author of Bard, Kinetic (Coffee House Press, 2023) and co-editor with Emma Gomis of New Weathers: Poetics from the Naropa Archive (Nightboat, 2022), Rues du Mondes (Apic Press, 2024), translations into French by Pierre Joris & Nicole Peyrafitte, and the essay on the Beats and the founding of the Buddhist inspired Naropa University, with notes & poems: Tendrel: A Meeting of Minds (Trident Books, 2024).

About Skidmore College

Founded in 1903, Skidmore College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college of about 2,700 students located in the dynamic town of Saratoga Springs, New York. Consistently ranked as a top liberal arts college by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, Forbes, and more, Skidmore has also been recognized for its innovation, value, and sustainability efforts. Skidmore fosters academic and personal excellence — all driven by a belief that Creative Thought Matters. Its comprehensive array of opportunities encompasses more than 40 bachelor’s degree programs, including popular offerings in business, psychology, and the creative and performing arts; competitive NCAA Division III athletics; world-class facilities; and hands-on civic engagement and career development resources.

About the Tang Museum

The Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College is a pioneer of interdisciplinary exploration and learning. A cultural anchor of New York’s Capital Region, the institution’s approach has become a model for university art museums across the country — with exhibition programs and series that bring together the visual and performing arts with fields of study as disparate as history, astronomy, and physics. The Tang has one of the most rigorous faculty-engagement initiatives in the nation, the Mellon Seminar, and robust publication and touring exhibition initiatives that extend the institution’s reach far beyond its walls. The Tang Teaching Museum’s building, designed by architect Antoine Predock, serves as a visual metaphor for the convergence of ideas and exchange the institution catalyzes. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, from noon to 5 pm, with extended hours until 9 pm Thursday. More information at http://tang.skidmore.edu.

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