Good to see mention of this half of a tribute to bill bissett: it was
guest edited by Patrick Friesen who hatched the plot with Sherrin and
Sharon Thesen (these poets clearly got together because of their names).
The other half was "Tribyoot to bill bissett" at October's Vancouver
International Writers' Festival. The mag was launched, contributers
read: Adeena Karasick was dynamite (her anecdotal intro was of a
hovercraft trip across the North Sea with bb during a reading tour & the
sea so rough she was convinced this was IT, so bill held her & talked of
how beautiful it will be under the water & all those wonderful things
we'll see & maybe become a part of & how exciting etc etc until she
could see it too). bissett wore a spanking new, looked like, baseball
cap for the occasion & had as much fun as anyone there. The biggest
applause followed bill's publisher's speech, which Karl Siegler,Talon
Books, completed after the mag's deadline. "so to speak" is stirring &
if anyone would like it, I'll seek his permission to share it. It's 3
pages long. Also Susan Musgrave has a fine story of bb meets the Queen
in her book "Musgrave Landing".
The texts do not match the performance: the performance does not exhaust
the man: the man's vision enlivens whatever place he's in with
generosity & the good humour.
Cheerio, Pete.
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