vlog

Authors:

  • Nathaniel Mackey
Cover of Splay Anthem

Published in installments across several decades, Mackeys two epic series--one called Mu, the other Song of the Andoumboulou--bring the attitudes of free jazz and the reverberating patterns of West African ensemble music to the goals of the American encyclopedic long poem á la Charles Olson. The mysterious, even hermetic, new verse extends both of Mackeys epics, even (as his prose foreword explains) merging them, so that they form one enormous text describing a mystical quest. Mackeys figures seek the source of inspiration, and his dense stanzas track their uneven progress; ‘We pursue it, by foot, train or boat, into realms of fable and myth, via chants, archival and esoteric references, portmanteau words and archeological research.

Citations

Mackey, Nathaniel. Splay Anthem. New York: New Directions Book, 2006.