Editing Bill Bissett

{{short description|Canadian poet}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Bill Bissett<br><small>{{postnominals|country=CAN|CM|size=100%}}</small>
| image              = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = William Frederick Bissett
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1939|11|23}}
| birth_place        = [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]], Canada
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = 
| other_names        = bill bissett
| occupation         = Poet, musician, lyricist, writer
| years_active       = 1950s–present
| education          = [[Dalhousie University]]
}}
'''Bill Bissett''' {{postnominals|country=CAN|CM|size=100%}} (born '''William Frederick Bissett''', born November 23, 1939), commonly known as '''bill bissett''', is a [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[poetry|poet]] known for his unconventional style especially regarding unusual [[orthography]] and the use of visual elements.

==Early life and education==
Bissett was born in [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]]. The son of a judge, [[Frederick William Bissett]], Bissett had a tumultuous childhood, often ran away from home as a child, and developed peritonitis. Bissett faced several years of hospitalizations and also experienced bullying because of his sexuality, “I was trying to do as well as I could, and getting snowballs thrown at me with rocks in them because I was gay and I was getting beaten up and having really no friends.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyxtra.com/poetic-enigma-22329|title=Poetic Enigma: The daring eccentricity of bill bissett|last=Gatchalian|first=CE|date=June 8, 2005|website=[[Xtra!|Xtra]]|access-date=September 24, 2019}}</ref>

He attended [[Dalhousie University]] (1956)<ref name="ABCbissett">{{Cite web|url = http://www.abcbookworld.com/view_essay.php?id=216|title = The Life and Times of bill bissett|date = 2007|access-date = January 12, 2015|website = ABC Bookworld|last = Twigg|first = Alan|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150113004328/http://www.abcbookworld.com/view_essay.php?id=216|archive-date = January 13, 2015|url-status = dead}}</ref> and the [[University of British Columbia]] (1963–1965).<ref name="LitEncycBissett">{{Cite book|title = Encyclopedia of literature in Canada|last = New|first = W.H.|publisher = University of Toronto|year = 2002|location = Toronto|pages = 121}}</ref>  After completing course requirements for his two majors in English and Philosophy, Bissett dropped out of both universities to avoid academic constraints.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

In 1962, he had one child with partner Martina Clinton, Ooljah Bissett<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://boppin.com/2005/08/bissett.html|title=bissett|date=2005-08-18|website=brian nation: the hot dog palace never closes|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref> (whom later in life changed her name to Michelle), who died in 2012 from an unknown illness.

==Career==
Bissett moved to [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]] in 1958.<ref name=CdnEncycBissett>{{Cite web|url = http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bill-bissett/|title = bill bissett|date = 2013|access-date = January 12, 2015|website = The Canadian Encyclopedia|last = Jennings|first = Chris}}</ref> In 1962, he started ''blewointment'' magazine.<ref name="CdnEncycBissett" /> He later launched blewointmentpress, which has published volumes by Cathy Ford, Maxine Gadd, Michael Coutts, Dick Clements writing under the pen name, "p.x. belinsky", Hart Broudy, Rosemary Hollingshead, Beth Jankola, [[Carolyn Zonailo]], [[bpNichol]], [[Ken West]], [[Lionel Kearns]] and [[D. A. Levy]].<ref name=allmusic>[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bill-bissett-mn0000062533/biography "Bill Bissett"]. ''AllMusic'', Biography by Stanton Swihart</ref>

In 1965, a CBC documentary by Maurice Embra was filmed of Bissett, entitled Strange Grey Day This, the documentary is one of the earliest known documentations of Bissett's poetry and art.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Canadian Poetry Online {{!}} University of Toronto Libraries {{!}} bill bissett|url=https://canpoetry.library.utoronto.ca/bissett/filmnarrativ.htm|access-date=2020-09-28|website=canpoetry.library.utoronto.ca}}</ref>

In 1968, Bissett collaborated with experimental rock group Th Mandan Massacre to release a spoken word album, ''Awake In The Red Desert,'' in a limited edition of 500 copies''.'' The album became a highly sought after collector's item, until reissued by Feeding Tube Records in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://feedingtuberecords.com/releases/awake-in-th-red-desert/|title=Awake In Th Red Desert|website=feedingtuberecords.com|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref> In 1969, having performed earlier in the evening at a concrete poetry show, Bissett fell through a folding door that was supposed to be latched shut and plummeted 20 feet to a basement concrete floor, severely injuring his head. Bissett suffered brain damage, and was rendered catatonic and paralyzed. A two-year court case was won by the insurance company and Bissett never received any compensation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=#105 bill bissett|url=https://bcbooklook.com/2016/02/02/105-bill-bissett/|access-date=2020-09-28|website=bcbooklook.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-04-26|title=Poet bill bissett iz still cownturculchural, still compelling|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2019/04/26/poet-bill-bissett-iz-still-cownturculchural-still-compelling.html|access-date=2020-09-28|website=thestar.com|language=en}}</ref>

In 1977, Bob Wenman and a group of other Conservative Members of Parliament objected to the funding of some Canadian poets, Bill Bissett in particular, by the [[Canadian Council for the Arts]],<ref name="Sugars2016">Cynthia Conchita Sugars. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=lYahCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA867 The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature]''. Oxford University Press; 2016. {{ISBN|978-0-19-994186-5}}. p. 867–.</ref> on moral grounds. Wenman, when speaking to [[Jean Chrétien]] (then a Minister of Finance), described Bissett's work as "disgusting and pornographic."<ref name=CoxHP150>{{cite journal|last1=Cox|first1=Ryan J.|title=HP Sauce and the Hate Literature of Pop Art: bill Bissett in the House of Commons|journal=English Studies in Canada|date=September 2011|volume=37|issue=3/4|page=150|doi=10.1353/esc.2011.0050|s2cid=159897236}}</ref> While in Parliament, Wenman requested that Bissett's literary work be read into the record, but his request was denied by the Speaker as not relevant.<ref name=CoxHP150 />

After Wenman's accusations in 1977, and until June 1978, Bissett received no funding from Canadian Council grants, although there is no clear indication that Wenman's allegations were the cause of this.<ref name=CoxHP151>{{cite journal|last1=Cox|first1=Ryan J.|title=HP Sauce and the Hate Literature of Pop Art: Bill Bissett in the House of Commons|journal=English Studies in Canada|date=September 2011|volume=37|issue=3/4|page=151|doi=10.1353/esc.2011.0050|s2cid=159897236}}</ref> Indeed, according to [[Frank Davey]], a [[Canadians|Canadian]] poet and scholar, by as early as 1974, Bissett had been "ejected from cross-Canada trains, evicted by countless landlords, beaten, harassed by police, and arrested and sentenced to prison."<ref name=Davey49>{{cite book|last1=Davey|first1=Frank|title=From There to Here|url=https://archive.org/details/fromtheretohereg0000dave|url-access=registration|date=1974|publisher=Press Porcepic|location=Erin|page=[https://archive.org/details/fromtheretohereg0000dave/page/49 49]|isbn=9780888780362 }}</ref>

In 1983, financial hardship,<ref name="CdnEncycBissett" /> plus a desire to focus on his own writing and visual art, led him to sell blewointment press (which later became Nightwood Editions).<ref name="Nightwood">{{Cite web|url = http://www.geist.com/topics/blewointment_press/|title = Geist, blewointment|access-date = September 26, 2017|website = Geist Magazine}}</ref><ref name="LitEncycBissett" /> Bissett moved to London, Ontario in 1985. From 1986 to 1991, Bissett was the lyricist and vocalist in the [[London, Ontario]] band Luddites, they released several demo cassettes and an LP. They disbanded in 1991, but released a compilation of their works in 2007. Following constant harassment from law enforcement in London, Bissett moved to Toronto, Ontario in 1992, where he currently resides.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

In 2006, Nightwood Editions published ''radiant danse uv being'',<ref>[http://www.nightwoodeditions.com/title/RadiantDanseUvBeing ''radiant danse uv being''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060301221654/http://www.nightwoodeditions.com/title/RadiantDanseUvBeing |date=2006-03-01 }} (Jeff Pew & Stephen Roxborough, eds.)</ref> a poetic tribute to Bissett with contributions from more than 80 writers, including [[Margaret Atwood]], [[Leonard Cohen]], [[Lorna Crozier]], [[Patrick Lane (poet)|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]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

Bissett's sound poetry was sampled by The Chemical Brothers on their 2007 CD ''[[We Are the Night (album)|We Are the Night]]''. The CD title was taken from Bissett's "Ode To D.A. Levy". The CD went #1 in the UK and North American Electronic Music Charts.

In 2007, Bissett was awarded the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to literature in British Columbia.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://georgewoodcock.com/billbissett.html|archive-url = https://archive.today/20150118090516/http://georgewoodcock.com/billbissett.html|url-status = dead|archive-date = January 18, 2015|title = bill bissett 2007|access-date = January 14, 2015|website = georgewoodcock.com}}</ref> The following year, he was given an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from Thompson Rivers University.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://inside.tru.ca/2008/05/13/tru-to-confer-honorary-degrees-upon-four-canadian-achievers/|title = TRU to confer honorary degrees upon four Canadian achievers|date = May 13, 2008|access-date = January 14, 2015|website = Thompson Rivers University}}</ref>

In 2015, "Th ground is a prspektiv" by Bissett was once again sampled by The Chemical Brothers, this time for their album [[Born in the Echoes]] in "I'll See You There".<ref name=pitch>[https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20721-born-in-the-echoes/ "The Chemical Brothers: Born in the Echoes"]. ''Pitchfork'', Ryan Dombal, July 15, 2015</ref>

In 2019, an anthology of poems from nearly every previously published Bissett book, entitled ''breth'' was published through Talonbooks. ''breth'' features hundreds of poems dating as early as the late 1950s, to as recent as the late 2010s. Bissett is now based in [[Toronto]].

Bissett is known in Toronto as a peer support worker and is the treasurer of the schizophrenia peer support group The Secret Handshake founded in 2004, by Bissett and Jordan Stone.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

In June 2024, he was appointed to the [[Order of Canada]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gg.ca/en/order-canada-appointees-june-2024|title=Order of Canada Appointees – June 2024|website=Governor General of Canada|date=21 June 2024 |language=en|access-date=2024-06-30}}</ref> In July 2024, a compilation album of previously unreleased or out of print sound recordings of Bill Bissett’s poetry entitled ‘’circulin th moon’’ was independently released digitally on Bissett’s Bandcamp page.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

==Art and poetry==
Bissett uses unusual [[orthography]] and incorporates visual elements in his printed poetry, and his performance of "concrete sound" poetry, [[sound effect]]s, chanting, [[barefoot]] [[dance|dancing]] and playing a [[maraca]] during his poetry readings. Frank Davey described him as "rejecting the conventional or 'straight' world [...] not only in lifestyle but in ruthless alterations to conventional syntax and spelling."<ref name="Davey49" />  Themes in his work range from the mystical to the mundane, incorporating humour, sentimentality, and political commentary. He often does not capitalise his name or use capital letters. He has had large exhibits of his paintings.<ref name=allmusic /> In ''[[the Paris Review]]'', [[Jack Kerouac]] called Bill Bissett one of "the great poets."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=Summer 1968|title=Jack Kerouac, The Art of Fiction No. 41|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4260/the-art-of-fiction-no-41-jack-kerouac|journal=The Paris Review|volume=Summer 1968 |issue=43 |access-date=January 12, 2015|last1=Berrigan |first1=Interviewed by Ted }}</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
*''We Sleep Inside Each Other All'' - 1966
*''Th Jinx ship and other trips: pomes drawings, collage'' - 1966
*''Th gossamer bed pan'' - 1967
*''Lebanon voices'' - 1967
*''Where is Miss Florence Riddle?'' - 1967, reprinted 1973
*''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 and get an organizer for cross country poetry reading circuit: {{sic}} press release.'' - 1970
*''RUSH what fuckan theory'' - 1971, reprinted 2012
*''Blew trewz'' - 1971
*''IBM'' - 1971
*''Dragon fly'' - 1971
*''Nobody owns th earth'' - 1971
*''Ice'' - 1972
*''Pomes for Yoshi'' - 1972
*''Vancouver Mainland Ice and Cold Storage'' - 1973, reprinted 1974, 1992
*''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
*''Write me an Adventure'' - 1983
*''Canada gees mate for life'' - 1985
*''The Last Blewointment anthology'' (editor) - 1986
*''Animal uproar'' - 1987 ({{ISBN|9780889222472}})
*''What we have'' - 1988 ({{ISBN|9780889222625}})
*''howard xperiences'' - 1990
*''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}})
*''Time'' - 2010 
*''Novel'' - 2011
*''Hungree Throat'' - 2013
*''Th Book'' - 2014
*''Breth'' - 2019
*''its th sailors life / still in treetment: meditaysyuns from gold mountain'' - 2022 ({{ISBN|978-1-77201-391-7}})
}}

{{Portal| Poetry| Biography| Canada}}

==Further reading==
*Bayard, Caroline. (1986). "Bill Bissett: Subversion et poesie concrete." Etudes Litteraires vol. 19 no. 2, 81-108.
*Coupal, Michel. (1993). "Quelques aspects de l'identite culturelle canadienne dans l'oeuvre de Bill Bissett." Annales du Centre de Recherches sur l'Amerique No. 18, 47-54, 360. {{ISSN|0399-0443}}
*David, Jack. (1977). "Visual Poetry in Canada: Birney, Bissett, and bp." Studies in Canadian Literature vol. 2, 252-66.
*Early, Len. (1976). "Bill Bissett: Poetics, Politics & Vision." Essays on Canadian Writing vol. 4, 4-24.
*Enright, Robert. (1997). "Composition by feeled the visual art of bill bissett." Capilano Review series 2 no. 23, 105-7.
*[[Maylon, Carol]]. (1997). "we ar always on th 401: the use of fiction in bissett's poems." Capilano Review series 2 vol. 23, 113-6.
*Pew, Jeff, and Roxborough, Stephen (editors). (2006). ''radiant danse uv being: A Poetic Portrait of bill bissett''. Nightwood Editions. {{ISBN|0-88971-210-7}}
*Precosky, Don. (1990). "Bill Bissett: Controversies and Definitions." Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews vol. 27, 15-29.
*Precosky, Don. (1994). "Self selected/selected self: bill bissett's Beyond Even Faithful Legends." Canadian Poetry: Studies, Documents, Reviews vol. 34, 57-78.
*Twigg, Allan.  "bissett, bill" on [[BC Bookworld]].
*Wershler-Henry, Darren. (1997). "Vertical excess: what fuckan theory and bill bissett's concrete poetics." Capilano Review series 2 no. 23, 117-24.
* John Barton and Billeh Nickerson (editors). ''Seminal: The Anthology of Canada's Gay Male Poets''. Arsenal Pulp Press. {{ISBN|978-1-55152-217-3}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.billbissett.com/ Bill Bissett] website

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bissett, Bill}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:Canadian male poets]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian poets]]
[[Category:Canadian gay writers]]
[[Category:Canadian LGBTQ poets]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Writers from Halifax, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Poets from Vancouver]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Gay poets]]
[[Category:Visual poets]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Poets from Toronto]]
[[Category:People with lower case names and pseudonyms]]