Splay Anthem
By: Nathaniel Mackey.
Publisher: New Directions Book
Published: May 17, 2006
Place of publication: New York, USA
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 126
ISBN-13: 9780811216524
Description: Published in installments across several decades, Mackey's 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 a  la Charles Olson. The mysterious, even hermetic, new verse extends both of Mackey's epics, even (as his prose foreword explains) merging them, so that they form one enormous text describing a mystical quest. Mackey's 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.