Gallery 881 is honoured to host legendary poets bill bissett and Stephen Roxborough for an unforgettable evening celebrating the Vancouver launch of bill’s new book th book uv lost passwords 1 (Talonbooks).
Details
Gallery 881
881 East Hastings
Vancouver, BC V6A 3Y1
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Doors Open: 6:00pm
Reading: 7:00pm
After party until: 9:00pm
Tickets*
$20 in advance
$30 at the door
*Sliding scale tickets are available in limited supply. Please contact us directly.
th book uv lost passwords 1
By bill bissett
a novel uv pomes threding thru each othr th main charaktrs langwage n all uv us hedding off in all direksyuns ths book asks is langwage lost wev had creativ langwage almost 7 thousand yeers we still dont undr stand each othr veree well dew we want 2 thru th mysteree loves n rapturs speek
th book uv lost passwords 1 is the new book from beloved Canadian poet bill bissett, recent recipient of the Order of Canada. It expands on his multivalent and long-standing poetic practice by rearticulating the novel as a radiant field of sound, image, story, memory, dream, and fantasy. It criss-crosses geographies, hopping on planes and between planes to get to th breth uv th pome and everywhere else. th book uv lost passwords 1 oxygenates the brain and soul.
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 counter-culture movement in Canada and the U.K. 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 – over 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.
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.
Stephen Roxborough
Stephen Roxborough (aka roxword) is Editor and Creative Director for NeoPoiesis Press. He's served on the Washington Poets Association board, co-founded Burning Word poetry festival, and is Head Poet for Madrona Eco-Arts Center on Guemes Island. Rox co-edited radiant danse uv being, a poetic portrait of bill bissett, and is the author of making love in the war zone, impeach yourself!, blurst, son of blurst, spiritual demons (CD), the little book of luminosophy, this wonderful perpetual beautiful, and open heart sutra surgery. Rox and his camera are often busy capturing and creating visions for the visionary in everybody. He's been praised by his peers as wise, simple, brilliant, fresh, uplifting, stubborn, crotchety, unkempt and a foolish romantic.
The event is sponsored by PrintMaker Studio, a fine art printer and custom picture framer located in Vancouver, Canada.
Gallery 881 is honoured to host legendary poets bill bissett and Stephen Roxborough for an unforgettable evening celebrating the Vancouver launch of bill’s new book th book uv lost passwords 1 (Talonbooks).
Details
Gallery 881
881 East Hastings
Vancouver, BC V6A 3Y1
Saturday, October 25, 2025
Doors Open: 6:00pm
Reading: 7:00pm
After party until: 9:00pm
Tickets*
$20 in advance
$30 at the door
*Sliding scale tickets are available in limited supply. Please contact us directly.
th book uv lost passwords 1
By bill bissett
a novel uv pomes threding thru each othr th main charaktrs langwage n all uv us hedding off in all direksyuns ths book asks is langwage lost wev had creativ langwage almost 7 thousand yeers we still dont undr stand each othr veree well dew we want 2 thru th mysteree loves n rapturs speek
th book uv lost passwords 1 is the new book from beloved Canadian poet bill bissett, recent recipient of the Order of Canada. It expands on his multivalent and long-standing poetic practice by rearticulating the novel as a radiant field of sound, image, story, memory, dream, and fantasy. It criss-crosses geographies, hopping on planes and between planes to get to th breth uv th pome and everywhere else. th book uv lost passwords 1 oxygenates the brain and soul.
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 counter-culture movement in Canada and the U.K. 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 – over 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.
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.
Stephen Roxborough
Stephen Roxborough (aka roxword) is Editor and Creative Director for NeoPoiesis Press. He's served on the Washington Poets Association board, co-founded Burning Word poetry festival, and is Head Poet for Madrona Eco-Arts Center on Guemes Island. Rox co-edited radiant danse uv being, a poetic portrait of bill bissett, and is the author of making love in the war zone, impeach yourself!, blurst, son of blurst, spiritual demons (CD), the little book of luminosophy, this wonderful perpetual beautiful, and open heart sutra surgery. Rox and his camera are often busy capturing and creating visions for the visionary in everybody. He's been praised by his peers as wise, simple, brilliant, fresh, uplifting, stubborn, crotchety, unkempt and a foolish romantic.
The event is sponsored by PrintMaker Studio, a fine art printer and custom picture framer located in Vancouver, Canada.
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