sublingual

Description

sublingual is perhaps the most highly structured yet of bissett's "textual visions." Its first seven poems construct a Genesis, beginning with a poem of birth our pre- or sub-lingual first breath, a phenomenological gesture of recognition, of both being and belonging, in and of the world. Following this short creation story, the book continues to unfold in luminous and lucid delight.

bill bissett originalee from lunaria ovr 300 yeers ago in lunarian time sent by shuttul thru halifax nova scotia originalee wantid 2 b dansr n figur skatr became a poet n paintr in my longings after 12 operaysyuns reelee preventid me from following th inishul direksyuns --bill bissett bill bissett garnered international attention in the 1960s as a pre-eminent figure of the counterculture movement in Canada and the United Kingdom. In 1964, he founded blewointment press, which published the works of bpNichol and Steve McCaffery, among others. bissett's charged readings, which never fail to amaze his audiences, incorporate sound poetry, chanting and singing, the verve of which is only matched by his prolific writing career--more than seventy books of bissett's poetry have been published. A pioneer of sound, visual and performance poetry--eschewing the artificial hierarchies of meaning and the privileging of things ("proper" nouns) over actions imposed on language by capital letters; the metric limitations imposed on the possibilities of expression by punctuation; and the illusion of formal transparency imposed on the written word by standard (rather than phonetic) spelling--bissett composes his poems as scripts for pure performance and has consistently worked to extend the boundaries of language and visual image, honing a synthesis of the two in the medium of concrete poetry. Whether paying tribute to his hometown lunaria or exercising his native tongue dissent, bissett continues to dance upon upon the cutting edge of poetics and performance works. bill bissett was recently a featured poet on the Heart of a Poet series, produced in conjunction with Bravo! TV. Among bissett's many awards are The George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award (2007); BC Book Prizes Dorothy Livesay Prize (2003) peter among th towring boxes / text bites; BC Book Prizes Dorothy Livesay Prize (1993) inkorrect thots.

"[bill bissett] is the shaman of Canadian poetry."--"Georgia Straight" "His poetry addresses the limitless discussion of the boundaries between the personal and the political."--"National Post" "His poetry addresses the limitless discussion of the boundaries between the personal and the political."--"National Post" "[bill bissett] is the shaman of Canadian poetry."--"Georgia Straight"