the best way to insult a 73 year old poet is to feature his first book and ignore the 12 other books he's published since— please delete this and replace it with a mention that my book of collected poems can be read online and downloaded at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_kyor0CFAKqUkc5clh4VmgxeDA/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1
hi bill, perhaps some explanation is in order. i work at a well known bookstore in portland, oregon and one day i asked one of our recently hired part timers who helps take care of the poetry section for a poetry recommendation as i wanted something different to read and she very passionately insisted that i check out your work, which she absolutely adores. unfortunately, this is the only book of your we currently have in stock, and if you like, i could ask the people who work in charge of that section about ordering some copies of your new collected? i really enjoyed your book and the cover is such an arresting picture. my intention was to bring attention to your poetry and also to celebrate the visceral experience of reading books. would you be open to a compromise of letting me leave the pictures up AND including the web address where interested people can peruse your collected poems? if not, i will take down this post, as you have asked.
okay leave it up if you must, but please make a clickable link to the collected poems pdf and please mention it can be downloaded for free ....thank you
you are welcome and thank you! i'm excited to read more of your poems. i spoke today with the coworker who recommended your work to me. her name is tara. we were wondering if you would be interested in doing a reading in portland, oregon? we would love to have you and i'm sure others would as well.
hi, this link doesn't work anymore, is there an updated one to use? if not, i live in portland; is this book still available? i've read excerpts from it and would love to read the whole thing!
Clair, a lot of Knott's work (including late versions of his Collected Poems) is now posted in PDF at http://www.billknottarchive.com/ although I've not seen a PDF version of The Naomi Poems anywhere.
I'll make a pdf of The Naomi Poems.. I am making them for all the books but since I see there's "demand" I'll do that one next. Send me your email address if you want it, and I'll send it out to you as soon as it's done (within the week hopefully, before you forget and lose interest!) I'll make one with just text and another out of JPGs of the actual book. I'm not sure about posting his non-self-published PDFs in the archive, so for now, just let me know where to send and then propagate as you please.
I think Bill wouldn't have been so catty about The Naomi Poems if, after 50 years of hearing about the "St Geraud hoax" and so on, there were at least a few decent pieces of contemporary criticism/analysis of his later work floating around to buffer his ire. I can't even read emails I sent to old lovers a few years ago, so I can't imagine if I was an active poet (and had amassed a mammoth oeuvre in the meantime) yet was still hearing about (what I considered)juvenile verse, decades later! I can see his point in that frame.
He considered the work produced in the past 7 years to be the prime of his writing career, and I wholeheartedly concur. You will find these latest poems in the 2014 PDF "DEVOUR IS MY FAVORITE FLOWER" for a start, at www.billknottarchive.com. Also, there is a pdf of his Collected Poetry in those 2014 files as well. Free downloads, of course, and pass them/word of their existence around.
My favorite year from way back when is 1971.. Nights of Naomi I do love, but Auto-Necrophilia is a masterpiece (the title alone, how cyclical and mythic! He's a master, without doubt!)
So here is a compromise that maybe Bill would have (tacitly, always tacitly!) agreed to... Write about his work, but include the new, even if just to compare it to the old. No, don't listen to my self-serving fantasies, I'm always happy to see anything written about him (it's all meme-fodder, yes?), but there certainly is a pitiful lack of published discourse about his work where his chosen format of publishing, goofy hoax thing from the 60s, and pen name don't take center stage. Embrace the new work, and you just might imagine your tastes granted an "aesthetic exception" - perhaps he wouldn't be so quick to get his panties in a twist about your love for the old stuff if you've already paid homage to the work he loved most; then, safely you can give in to your retro-rush and gush about old what's-her-name all you wish! And the most you might get is a coolscowl, if not his blessing.
the best way to insult a 73 year old poet is to feature his first book and ignore the 12 other books he's published since— please delete this and replace it with a mention that my book of collected poems can be read online and downloaded at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_kyor0CFAKqUkc5clh4VmgxeDA/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1
ReplyDeletehi bill, perhaps some explanation is in order. i work at a well known bookstore in portland, oregon and one day i asked one of our recently hired part timers who helps take care of the poetry section for a poetry recommendation as i wanted something different to read and she very passionately insisted that i check out your work, which she absolutely adores. unfortunately, this is the only book of your we currently have in stock, and if you like, i could ask the people who work in charge of that section about ordering some copies of your new collected? i really enjoyed your book and the cover is such an arresting picture. my intention was to bring attention to your poetry and also to celebrate the visceral experience of reading books. would you be open to a compromise of letting me leave the pictures up AND including the web address where interested people can peruse your collected poems? if not, i will take down this post, as you have asked.
Deleteplease delete this
ReplyDeleteokay leave it up if you must, but please make a clickable link to the collected poems pdf and please mention it can be downloaded for free ....thank you
Deleteyou are welcome and thank you! i'm excited to read more of your poems. i spoke today with the coworker who recommended your work to me. her name is tara. we were wondering if you would be interested in doing a reading in portland, oregon? we would love to have you and i'm sure others would as well.
Deletehi, this link doesn't work anymore, is there an updated one to use? if not, i live in portland; is this book still available? i've read excerpts from it and would love to read the whole thing!
ReplyDeleteClair, a lot of Knott's work (including late versions of his Collected Poems) is now posted in PDF at http://www.billknottarchive.com/
Deletealthough I've not seen a PDF version of The Naomi Poems anywhere.
thanks for the information about the website. they had copies at powell's books but they quickly sold out after he died.
DeleteHere's a pdf of the Naomi Poems
Deletehttp://www.billknottarchive.com/s/The-Naomi-Poems-1968.pdf
I'll make a pdf of The Naomi Poems.. I am making them for all the books but since I see there's "demand" I'll do that one next. Send me your email address if you want it, and I'll send it out to you as soon as it's done (within the week hopefully, before you forget and lose interest!) I'll make one with just text and another out of JPGs of the actual book. I'm not sure about posting his non-self-published PDFs in the archive, so for now, just let me know where to send and then propagate as you please.
ReplyDeleteI think Bill wouldn't have been so catty about The Naomi Poems if, after 50 years of hearing about the "St Geraud hoax" and so on, there were at least a few decent pieces of contemporary criticism/analysis of his later work floating around to buffer his ire. I can't even read emails I sent to old lovers a few years ago, so I can't imagine if I was an active poet (and had amassed a mammoth oeuvre in the meantime) yet was still hearing about (what I considered)juvenile verse, decades later! I can see his point in that frame.
He considered the work produced in the past 7 years to be the prime of his writing career, and I wholeheartedly concur. You will find these latest poems in the 2014 PDF "DEVOUR IS MY FAVORITE FLOWER" for a start, at www.billknottarchive.com. Also, there is a pdf of his Collected Poetry in those 2014 files as well. Free downloads, of course, and pass them/word of their existence around.
My favorite year from way back when is 1971.. Nights of Naomi I do love, but Auto-Necrophilia is a masterpiece (the title alone, how cyclical and mythic! He's a master, without doubt!)
So here is a compromise that maybe Bill would have (tacitly, always tacitly!) agreed to... Write about his work, but include the new, even if just to compare it to the old. No, don't listen to my self-serving fantasies, I'm always happy to see anything written about him (it's all meme-fodder, yes?), but there certainly is a pitiful lack of published discourse about his work where his chosen format of publishing, goofy hoax thing from the 60s, and pen name don't take center stage. Embrace the new work, and you just might imagine your tastes granted an "aesthetic exception" - perhaps he wouldn't be so quick to get his panties in a twist about your love for the old stuff if you've already paid homage to the work he loved most; then, safely you can give in to your retro-rush and gush about old what's-her-name all you wish! And the most you might get is a coolscowl, if not his blessing.
-Maya Jade
knottptyx@gmail.com
www.billknottarchive.com