Anne Waldman '58
Anne Waldman ‘58 – a former student of Gwen Chaloner’s - grew up to be an internationally acclaimed poet, writer, editor and teacher.
She was one of the founders and directors of The Poetry Project at St. Marks’s Church In-the-Bowery, which is still a major focal point for poetry across the country and around the world. In 1974, Waldman co-founded with Allen Ginsberg the celebrated Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, the first Buddhist-inspired university in the western hemisphere, where she remains a Distinguished Professor of Poetics. She is a recipient of a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship, the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Award, and has been appointed a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets.
In 2006, Waldman wrote “October Elegy” in memory of Grace classmate Sasha Hourwich.
OCTOBER ELEGY
for Sasha
The world's chillier, not so
Animated
The memories hit hard but
Sweetly of you * my first art friend
Companion
Your posture in the doorway
Light coming in * it's early morning - from the window
Lighting you from behind
Your face turns * radiant, always so inquisitive
School uniform distinct * blue shirt & tie *
And you say reaching out "Here" (a book proffered)
And "Later?" meaning our after-school salon
Moliere? Shakespeare?
Details rich from the archival memory bank
Dark curly hair, that inimitable smile,
The walk
Thrusting forward
Mischievous twinkle, esprit, aspiration
What teacher would we be rolling our eyes over today?
Or argumentative Philip? dear metabolic twin (miss you too)
And now both your expressions gone?
Seems a blink away
My mother adored you
Knowing you were "out there" in Parisian
space & time
Was a blessing, dear ex-pat, you lucky one
You making the world wherever it might be
A better place
For your being in it
Steady & delicate & strong & vivid *
O Sasha!
You helped make me who I was and grew to be
By imprinting
An early care & generosity
For love of art & music & poetry
Heroic gestures! Curtain calls! Applause!
& now you still live inside that spark that lit
The many others too * lighting up
the dashing promenade, a spectacle that was all our lives
We're all so grateful
Never au revoir but onward
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Grace Church School is a co-educational independent school in downtown Manhattan, New York City providing instruction for over 800 students in junior kindergarten through twelfth grade.
