bill bissett at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, 2019
th artists precipice
ther ar sew manee apertures sew manee opnings sew manee wayze in sew manee wayze out a lot uv art is in reaksyuns 2 othr art previous or seeming contemporaree or reactiv 2 oppressyun or showing how it is or not giving a sweet f abt all that showing th circul th square oblong rectangul th abstraksyuns uv thot or being or being totalee discursiv abt all that or showing outside uv all that as well art within th shadows dangr places uv monstrs mayhem murdr mothrlee love ium kinduv sure nowun stays in my bed 2 long now he sd or nowun at all ther sew I can dreem uv sumwun 2 fall asleep with th image uv but they can nevr leev bcoz thr was nowun ther they wer nevr ther sew separaysyun insurans is that what we evenshulee want a hedg against despair nevr can get ghostid or left yet we ar strongr can b thn thees msallianses thees dandelion dragon troll pinpoints uv marseilles th carrot cake n koffee in that kafay in madrid not far from th prado let that sink in or th aperture can b th sprucing up th evolushyunaree thrust that art can help our specees get bettr get ovr th crueltee murdr n xtreem pointless agonee uv th terribul klass systems during what we hope was th height uv th covid-19 pandemik yewnitid states was th sole dissenting vote 2 lets have a universal cees fire during ths pandemik sew thr ar monstrs within us art dusint have 2 b abt anee uv ths n they sd put all th dstressd n sorrow in th lite lure touch ther ar pickshurs inside th lettrs n lettrs inside th pickshurs whn i bgan writing 4 reel aftr my first mothr went 2 spirit I wrote words all ovr th page evreething is deth deth n mor deth why use a strait line whn life isint dusint wuns yu start evreething is an influenz heering Edith Sitwell facade sound poetree thats th world i want 2 get in2 n espeshulee Gertrude Stein n e.e. cummings n 4 prsonal life unfolding James Baldwin langwage n life dusint have 2 b binaree it can but no have 2s n also we selekt th influences we want what can we grab hold uv thers a tortur n a torment n a thru n a claritee n soons thers a plateau say we may think wev got sumwher we havint sew thr was Bob Cobbing Paula Claire writrs forum d.a.levy cleevland bpNichol toronto sound n vizual poets sprouting up evreewher Bertrand Lachance kebek brazil checkoslovakia Ivo Vroom amsterdam paris japan Mary Ellen Solt yew s evreewher Judith Copithorne Martina Clinton Lance Farrell bordrblur i was sew in2 with blew trewz n othr works why bordrs why peeing on establishing territoreez n all th chanting repetishyun th ancient lord laydee uv th univers asks us 2 b n letting th will 2 keep going b in th pickshur bcumming no pickshur at all turning n turning Maxine Gadd all preshyus stones th weeding n weering n th ring is n isint benign nihilism n letting th tensyun go with non intensyunaliteez stanzas in meditaysyun Gertrude Stein accidental writing s th storee i to a storee is what time is it byond storee th centr was europe paris thn it bcame nu york thn th centr bcame evreewher n as Wordsworth sd th world is 2 much with us late n soon n isint if we allow that apertur n langwage centres ar all ovr th bodee n each day i c a littul mor th camera uv th lens n th nervous centr uv th brains eye blurring th bordrs Austin Clarke basik incum 4 evreewun n singul payr health care free 4 evreewun same as universitee edukaysyun college free n that th focus th apertur is on th work n what may happn with it not on th ruling klass allegians free th poetree free th poet sumtimes nothing is in th frame sumtimes evreewun is in th frame n sumtimes 4grounding sumtimes supporting Allen Ginsberg Peter Orlovsky John Wieners Diane di Prima Diane Wakoski Michael McClure Denise Levertov Leroi Jones John Rechy James Reaney Coleen Thibadeau Earle Brney Irving Layton A.M.Klein Leonard Cohen Dorothy Livesay Anne Hebert n Maria Campbell Mariam Waddington P.K. Page Phyllis Webb Duke Redbird Thomas King Nicole Brossard Susan Musgrave Lillian Allen Paul Dutton Steve Mccaffery Andrea Thompson Clifton Joseph Stedman Pardy David Bateman Hart Broudy David Tinmouth Naomi Laufer Derek Beaulieu Gregory Scofield Gregory Betts Robert Anderson Daniel f Bradley Jim Andrews Kai Kellough Brian Dedora Myra Vargas Gary Barwin Kate Siklosi Brandon Wint Dani Spinoza Helen Posno Nordine Beason Honey Novick Frances Kruk Franco Cortese Christian Bok Gus Morin Adeena Karasick entr th worlds uv intrtextualis n konkreet is porous prformans poetree multiplisittez cascading intelekshual emoshyunal th tormenting roads we go thru all th messaging n definishyuns changing n variabul unskathing changeling pleeding n saying is th word 2 much with us late n soon yet its how we shape th slippreeness yes she likes it he likes it a thot form is a thot farm. what thots we choos as well as ar drivn 2
in th oxygen tent whn i was eleven thn aftr sew manee surgereez I cudint b a dansr i decided i wud b an artist a paintr n a writr n thn I wud still b abul 2 feel th line mooving thru space wch is what i wantid 2 feel all th time times th line mooving thru space n heer n c th anshula rhapsodee
