Bill bissett

bill bissett (born William Frederick Bissett, November 23, 1939) is a Canadian poet famous for his anti-conventional style. He often does not capitalise his name or use capital letters.

life
bissett was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He attended Dalhousie University (1956) and the University of British Columbia (1963–1965). bissett dropped out of both universities because of an overriding desire to live as a free agent, writer and painter unencumbered by any academic constraints. He did complete course requirements for his two majors in English and Philosophy. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1958. Five years later he started the blew ointment magazine. He later launched blewointment press, which has published volumes by Cathy Ford, Maxine Gadd, Michael Coutts, Hart Broudy, Rosemary Hollingshead, Beth Jankola, Carolyn Zonailo, bpNichol, Ken West, Lionel Kearns and D.A. Levy. bissett is based in Vancouver and Toronto, Ontario, alternating between the two cities.

writing
bissett is known for his use of a unique orthography and incorporating visual elements in his printed poetry, and his performance of "concrete sound" poetry, sound effects, chanting, barefoot dancing and playing a maraca during his poetry readings. He is often associated with the Shamanistic in literature. He has also had large exhibits of his paintings and made audio recordings on vinyl, cassette tape and CD. He was the lyricist and vocalist in the Ontario band, Luddites, and before that he collaborated with experimental rock group The Mandan Massacre. His work typically ranges from the mystical to the mundane, incorporating humour, a sense of wonder and sentimentality, and political commentary.

recognition
In 2006, Nightwood Editions published radiant danse uv being (Jeff Pew & Stephen Roxborough, eds.), a poetic tribute to bissett with contributions from more than 80 writers, including Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen, Lorna Crozier, Patrick Lane, Steve McCaffery, P. K. Page and Darren Wershler-Henry. In 2006 he was also featured in an episode of the television series Heart of a Poet produced by Canadian filmmaker Maureen Judge.

publications

 * Th Jinx ship nd othr trips: pomes, drawings, collage - (1966)
 * Th gossamer bed pan - (1967)
 * Lebanon voices - (1967)
 * Where is Miss Florence Riddle? - (1967)
 * What Poetiks - (1967)
 * Awake in th red desert! - (1968)
 * Of the land divine service: poems - (1968)
 * Liberating skies - (1969)
 * The Lost Angel Mining Co. - (1969)
 * S th story I to: trew adventure - (1970)
 * Tuff shit: [love pomes] - (1970)
 * Why dusint the League of Canadian Poets do sumthing nd get an organizer for cross country poetry reading circuit: [sic] press release. - (1970)
 * Blew trewz - (1971)
 * Dragon fly - (1971)
 * Nobody owns th earth - (1971)
 * Ice - (1972)
 * Pomes for Yoshi - (1972)
 * Th first sufi line - (1973)
 * Pass th food release th spirit book - (1973)
 * Living with the vishyun - (1974)
 * Medicine my mouth's on fire - (1974)
 * Space travl - (1974)
 * What - (1974)
 * Yu can eat it at th opening - (1974)
 * Image being - (1975)
 * Stardust - (1975)
 * Th fifth sun - (1975)
 * Venus - (1975)
 * Th Wind Up Tongue - (1976)(ISBN 0887840221)
 * An allusyn sic to macbeth - (1976)
 * Sailor - (1978)
 * Selected poems: beyond even faithful legends (editor) - (1980)
 * Northern birds in color - (1981)
 * Seagull on Yonge Street - (1983)
 * Canada gees mate for life - (1985)
 * The Last Blewointment anthology (editor) - (1986)
 * Animal uproar - (1987) (ISBN 9780889222472)
 * What we have - (1988) (ISBN 9780889222625)
 * Hard 2 beleev - (1990) (ISBN 978-0-88922-277-9 )
 * Inkorrect thots - (1992) (ISBN 978-0-88922-303-5)
 * Th last photo uv th human soul - (1993) (ISBN 978-0-88922-322-6)
 * Th influenza uv logik - (1995) (ISBN 978-0-88922-357-8)
 * Loving without being vulnrabul - (1997) (ISBN 978-0-88922-372-1)
 * Scars on th seehors - (1999) (ISBN 978-0-88922-387-5)
 * B leev abul char ak trs - (2000) (ISBN 978-0-88922-433-9)
 * The Oranges of Orangtangua - Housepress, Calgary (2002)
 * peter among th towring boxes / text bites - (2002) (ISBN 978-0-88922-464-3)
 * narrativ enigma / rumours uv hurricane - (2004) (ISBN 978-0-88922-507-7)
 * northern wild roses / deth interrupts th dansing - (2005) (ISBN 978-0-88922-532-9)
 * ths is erth, thees ar peopul - (2007) (ISBN 9780889225572)
 * sublingual - (2008) (ISBN 9780889225893)
 * griddle talk: a yeer uv bill n carol dewing brunch - (2009) (ISBN 0889226067)