A trumpet call from our most iconoclastic poet that tears down the walls of prescribed creative processes. Vow to Poetry is a clarion call from one of our most dynamic and iconoclastic poets that tears down the walls of prescribed creative processes. This stirring assemblage of autobiography, interviews, essays on politics, poetics, Buddhism, and Naropa University lays bare a life dedicated to the imperatives of experimental poetry and cultural activism. This is much more than a "how to write" book--it is a "how to live the life of poetry" book. Like a radical instruction manual, this collection plaits together many of Waldman's most powerfully felt and deeply examined experiences to wake and dare its readers to make the ultimate commitment to one's life and art.