time

by Bill Bissett

bill bissett, who recently celebrated his seventieth birthday, remains even in his “biblical years” Canada’s most exciting, innovative pioneer in the field of the written, spoken, performed, illustrated and sculpted word. No one over the past half century comes close to what bissett has accomplished in pushing the boundaries of language beyond what was imagined in the mid-twentieth century as their furthest possible horizon, and what is most astonishing is that he is still the vanguard of that movement in the “language arts”, not just in Canada, but around the world today. As a way of introducing new readers to the non-hierarchical orthography, syntax and breath-determined metric and cadence so essential to the construction of meaning in the performance scores of his narrative poetry, Talon asked bissett to tell his readers in his own inimitable and “raging” way what his latest book is “about”:

time   is reelee abt how evreething is fleeting n how we deel with that n how deeplee we undrstand that awareness  th jewels shine as our undrstandings  th layrs n openings  apertures n iris lens in  or not n how manee narrativs reveel our paradoxikul n continualee shifting minds … a storee is what time is it … 4 ourselvs  n our specees    n how timeless th breth uv th galaxee  n oftn ourselvs  tho agen fleeting  lyrik  song chant  philosophikal  theologikul  prsonal  propheseez vizual  n tanguld tangos … with th invisibul dansrs … n th 4tune tellrs shuffuling theyr decks  how we yern 4  n letting go uv our games finding love  n th chancs 4 savin th environment n our selvs

— bill bissett

Genres: Poetry

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2010

About the author

bill bissett (born William Frederick Bissett, November 23, 1939) is a Canadian poet famous for his anti-conventional style.

bissett attended Dalhousie University and the University of British Columbia but 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 moved to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1958. Five years later he started the blew ointment magazine and later launched blewointment press. bissett is based in Vancouver and Toronto alternating between the two cities.

Reviews

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

ar yu captivatid or entaguld by its
 sounds its memoreez its manee

langwages smells time senses ths
 is alwayze now bettr 2 keep going if
yu can they all say make art out uv th

echoes relees thos entising siren voices
n th fresh countree air kleen watr treez

ther is no echo 2 go back 2 maybe ther is
 no back 2 yet i cum up on th hi green
hill agen north coverd ths time in snow

 n watch th sunset from th porch not
remembring th chattring attachmentz n

care 4 ths dwelling place uv wood n dreems
as th moon slides in2 th ocean places wher

 yu ar down south on th coast all th stars
in th world reflektid in th watrs neer yu
 4cast 2 rise 7 metrs in th cumming yeers

 n submerge vankouvr bc nu york citee
n prins edward island representing what
a nu definishyun uv watr front or as top

 doctors ar now saying what yu may have
long understood transisyun is th reel main
 stay uv life
- dew yu heer th echo uv wher yuv bin, pg. 5

* * *

toronto a few years ago
going west n thn north via
bus then 2 see school
xperimental adventurous
great place iud bin reeding
ther 4 a lot uv years now

woman cums ovr 2 me sits
next 2 me sz 2 me i lovd yu
in th man who wud b king
thank yu i sd it was great
working on that film a wundrful
shoot

why dew yu have a canadian
accent she askd me its 4 th
film ium dewing heer i sd its
not veree gud she sd it still
needs work i know i sd it

reelee duz need mor work
gud luck with it she sd thanks
i sd wud yu sign ths she askd
why sure i sd n i signd michael
caine thank yu she sd i reelee
get off heer yr welkum i sd
thanks

n me wundring wud i want 2 b
king uv aneething maybee uv
me howevr hayzee that wud
sumtimez b
- i was on th bloor line, pg. 20

* * *

2 a ghostlee
apparishyun
uv what cud
b

is not as
xcellent as
dewing it

no offens
i hope i can
remembr
that among

othr things
th smells uv
wild roses n

making my 
way thru th
dark on th
hiway wher

i cant evn see
th white line n
keep goin on
with th trucks n

cars all around
me swerving sew
fast from bhind
n tord me i am
not th sent stay

moving 4ward
dont startul whn
a transport truck
seems 2 brush past
my blu jackit i try

2 keep wun foot
on th soft shouldr
whn theyr cumming
tord me thers no site
th hed lites eet th
road whn

theyr cumming from
bhind my way on
th road its all lit
up whn theyr
cumming tord me 
both wayze i cant
see aneething

feel my feet n
breething steering
me thru wun foot
with or aftr th othr
a kilometr or sew
fifteen below big
clowds ovr th soon
full moon dark

ths is th way n up
th hi hill sumthings
darting thru th 4est
theyr gold eyez like
marbuls we had
whn we wer childrn
ar they woolvs
keep going with

out seeing in all
ths dark keep going
on deep breething
2 th place ium

moving tord 4
th nite get ther in
chop wood stare
in2 th swirling

n brite fire dansing
taking my worreez
th wundrful inside
warmth remembr
2 walk home th 
next time b4

dark
- klinging, pg. 33-35

* * *

who invadid th

wrong countree

n what tragic

mess happened

next
- th president, pg. 68

* * *

looking 4 a nu belt can yu
help me i askd yes he sd
fairlee plain i askd not 2
wide n not 2 xpensiv i addid
thees seem all prettee hi

yu can afford it he sd what
i askd iuv seen yr mooveez
wch wuns i askd fahrenheir 911
religiositee well they didint make
as much munee as yu mite think
i sd wundring why is shopping
sumtimes sew hard

4 a belt he askd hey ths wun is
kool i sd will it fit jeens yes he
sd i tried 2 obsess abt that 
aspect tell yu what he sd iul
give it 2 yu 1/2 price evn if yu
ar michael moore its on sale
n i reelee like yr mooveez

ium reelee looking 4ward 2
yr nu film capitalsm a love
storee thanks i sd if th belt dusint
fit yr othr jeens bring it back
ok i sd thanks ths feels gud
- i was in th bar toronto, pg. 96

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenging style of poetry that I could only digest in small bites. Bill's unique communications demand exquisite attention to fully appreciate his insightful point(s) of view. Well worth diving in if you love poetry and/or alternative forms of communication.