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I Am Flying Into Myself
I Am Flying Into Myself: Selected Poems, 19602014 | Bill Knott
15 posts | 2 read | 3 to read
A selection of Bill Knotts life worktestimony of his enduring, thorny genius (Robert Pinsky)Going to sleep, I cross my hands on my chest.They will place my hands like this.It will look as though I am flying into myself.For half a century, Bill Knotts brilliant, vaudevillian verse electrified the poetic form. Over his long career, he studiously avoided joining any one school of poetry, preferring instead to freewheel from French surrealism to the avant-garde and back againexperimenting relentlessly and refusing to embrace straightforward dialectics. Whether drawing from musings on romantic love or propaganda from the Vietnam War, Knotts quintessential poems are alive with sensory activity, abiding by the pulse and impulse of a pure, restless emotion. This provocative, playful sensibility has ensured that his poems have a rare and unmistakable immediacy, effortlessly crystalizing thought in all its moods and tenses.An essential contribution to American letters, I am Flying into Myself gathers a selection of Knotts previous volumes of poetry, published between 1960 and 2004, as well as verse circulated online from 2005 until a few days before his death in 2014. His workranging from surrealistic wordplay to the anti-poem, sonnets, sestinas, and haikusall convenes in this inventive and brilliant book, arranged by his friend the poet Thomas Lux, to showcase our American Rimbaud, one of the true poetic innovators of the last century.I Am Flying into Myself: Selected Poems, 1960-2014 celebrates one of poetrys most determined outsiders, a vitally important American poet richly deserving of a wider audience.
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merelybookish
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TheSpineView Are any the winning ticket? 😂😂😂 12mo
37 likes1 comment
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Leftcoastzen
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When a book makes you buy another book.Karr writes early in Lit about Bill Knotts weird behavior & his poetry thus , here comes another book!

vivastory What does she say about him? I used to read him when I read mostly poetry & he definitely seemed like a character 3y
Leftcoastzen @vivastory she knew of his poetry , having “ fallen in love” w/ his anti war poems.When she got to see him in person later, something else.he was wearing sweats that look like they came from dumpster. Dark rim glasses taped together with a band-aid.Drew poems from a wrinkled paper bag after reading a few lines said “That‘s such shit,stupid moron Knott,asshole.”wadded it up and tossed it .kept it up poem after poem to a delighted audience. 3y
vivastory 😬😬 I'm actually not terribly surprised. I remember one of the collections I read had rejection comments in place of blurbs on the back. 3y
Leftcoastzen @vivastory I think now people might be compassionate & try to find him some help.Most of us who read a lot know of connections to creativity & mental illness, in some cases. They seemed more like well, he‘s still getting writing grants , so whatever. 3y
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TheSpineView
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fandom_hellspawn99
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TheSpineView Well that was unexpected. 🤩🤩🤩 5y
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LiterRohde
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“Dear Advice Columnist”

“I recently killed my father
And will soon marry my mother;
My question is:
Should his side of the family be invited to the wedding?”

#PoetryMatters | 10: #Wit

📷: Made with Typorama

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Redwritinghood
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Mehso-so

#poemsbeforephones Finished this one up and, while there were many poems I enjoyed, I‘m lukewarm on the collection as a whole. Many of the poems seemed to have a sort of angry arrogance. I appreciate reading challenging work, though, and wouldn‘t recommend anyone shy away from reading this collection. 3⭐️

monalyisha I think “angry arrogance” is a great description for the vibe I got from a few. Engaging review! 6y
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Redwritinghood
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#poemsbeforephones As I‘m coming to the end of this collection, the poems are growing a bit more melancholy.

Lcsmcat Maybe it‘s my age, but I‘m liking these later ones better. 6y
Redwritinghood @Lcsmcat Yes, these are definitely the poems of someone who has grown more mature. (edited) 6y
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Redwritinghood
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#poemsbeforephones Slowly making my way through this collection. It‘s a bit of a mixed bag for me right now. I‘m finding some poems fantastic, but others are leaving me cold.

monalyisha Perforce! 6y
Redwritinghood @monalyisha Right? How often do you get to use that word?! 6y
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Redwritinghood
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#poemsbeforephones I did read some poems before phones yesterday, but never got around to posting. It‘s been busy over here! I‘m looking forward to a quiet afternoon, though, when I can catch up on Litsy and reading.

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Redwritinghood
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#poemsbeforephones This morning‘s reading included this little love poem. Refreshing after all the heavier pieces I‘ve been reading.

monalyisha Sweet. 💕 6y
BookBabe Nice one 👌🏻 6y
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Redwritinghood
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#poemsbeforephones In this poem the author recounts a childhood memory that followed his mother‘s death when he was a young child. It presents a rather stark image.

monalyisha Wow. & you found the perfect photographic accompaniment! 6y
readordierachel That's really striking. It evokes so much without being explicit 6y
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Redwritinghood
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#poemsbeforephones This is a great analogy for creative endeavors in general, not just poetry. There were a lot of heavy poems in the section I read today dealing with his mother‘s death in childbirth while he was still quite young and his early childhood.

monalyisha Oof. That‘s a lot to process in the morning. 6y
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Redwritinghood
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#poemsbeforephones I got a really late start today, but I finally got a little poetry read.

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Redwritinghood
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#poemsbeforephones These poems are very different from my last read. They are definitely darker, but also a little more complex to think through. This one obviously gives the collection its title.

monalyisha Ohhhhhh. That‘s FANTASTIC. I really, really like it. 6y
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Redwritinghood
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#poemsbeforephones Starting a new collection this morning. The first one I tried did not work for me, but I think I‘ll stick with this one. Published a few years after his death in 2014, I think this is a good one to open the collection.

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