2nd in the series of Natchez poems, NEW JERUSALEM from Bill Shute (KSE #376)

the second release from the recent poems written in Natchez, Mississippi

BILL SHUTE, “NEW JERUSALEM” (KSE #376, poetry chapbook)

edition of 41 hand-cut, hand-assembled copies

$6 US postpaid / $7 elsewhere postpaid

payment via paypal  to     django5722(at)yahoo(dot)com

please leave note with your order letting me know which items you are ordering and your mailing address…..thanks!

I composed SEVEN six-page poems during my two weeks in Natchez, Mississippi, in May 2017, and here is the second one to be edited and formatted: NEW JERUSALEM. The other five will come out gradually throughout the year, and I also hope to record all seven later this summer for 2018 release. As usual, it’s open-field poems filtered through the consciousness of a narrative persona who is up to his waist in the muck, but looking toward the horizon (I’d say stars, but these were written during the daytime)—-JUNK SCULPTURE FROM THE NEW GILDED AGE.

In the entry on the previous Natchez offering, GUEST REGISTER (still available!), I mentioned re-reading the lectures of Jack Spicer and a book of essays on the work of Frank O’Hara while writing these pieces, but for NEW JERUSALEM, I was also studying the recent New Century Edition of Swedenborg’s NEW JERUSALEM, translated by George Dole. As regular readers know, I’ve done a number of poems inspired by various spiritual texts: The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Book of Revelation, the prophetic books of the Old Testament, The Kena Upanishad, the Mandukya Upanishad, etc. They provide transcendent metaphors and mythologies and cosmologies, and they provide me melodies and/or chord changes on which I can improvise the way pianist Mal Waldron or saxophonist Lee Konitz might treat a standard. With NEW JERUSALEM, however, any Swedenborg influence is surely under the surface of the iceberg….but what you consume has a large influence on what you produce, so I’ll let the reader be the judge of how this piece differs from the other Natchez poems or other recent pieces of mine (maybe it’s more like Lennie Tristano’s treatment of a standard, where the theme is never stated or even implied?).

Face and mask, on the summit of the slump….waiting for decades to drop anchor….the man and the gun are one….paying twice for the same item: once as it enters, once as it departs….the security forces confiscated my camera and notebook….more joy, less certitude….the mirrors informed me I’d been wearing my shirt inside out….the days are longer, the hills smaller….stepping outside, falling off….

These seven pieces written in Natchez will eventually be collected in a full-sized professionally printed book, but as always, the home-made KSE chapbook publication is the only publication in the original formatting, with the original art, with the original epigraph (from Frank O’Hara), and in the intended form of its creation. There are only 41 copies….grab one now, while you can.

Each of these chapbooks is a stand-alone piece (the “serial poem” concept of Jack Spicer seems to fit my work well), so don’t worry about what order they are in. I consider each narrator to be a unique person telling his/her unique story from his/her unique perspective. I as poet am just the actor playing the part, the gallery-operator assembling the exhibition.

I hope you find it interesting and worthwhile. Thanks for your reading all these years!

Also available, for the same price:

($6 US ppd/$7 elsewhere ppd)

KSE #374 (poetry chapbook), BILL SHUTE, “Guest Register” 1st of the Natchez poems

KSE #366 (poetry chapbook), BILL SHUTE, “Approaching The Apparent: Meditations on the Kena Upanishad”

KSE #368 (poetry chapbook), BILL SHUTE, “Find A Place To Die”

KSE #367 (poetry chapbook), BILL SHUTE, “Left-Handed Cherubs”

KSE #354 (poetry chapbook), BILL SHUTE, “Revelation In Slow Motion”

KSE #364 (poetry chapbook), LUIS CUAUHTEMOC BERRIOZABAL, “Make The Light Mine”

KSE #352 (poetry chapbook), BILL SHUTE, “Bridge on the Bayou”

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AND, don’t forget the recent poetry books of mine NOT available from KSE:

–My 2016 poetry book DOWN AND OUT IN GULFPORT AND BILOXI (containing pieces composed in 2015) has been getting excellent response and is available at Amazon in the USA, in Canada, in the UK, in Germany, and in France. Just check your country’s Amazon outlet and look for Bill Shute and the above title. It’s cheaper when you buy it in your local country. In the US, here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1536814776/sr=1-1/qid=1496076105/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1496076105&sr=1-1

–the 42-page art-and-poetry book APPROACHING THE APPARENT, which pairs David Payne’s artwork and my poetry, just came out from A Series of Lizards in the UK. You can order this limited-run book direct from the publisher at   http://aseriesoflizards.bigcartel.com/product/4th-edition-approaching-the-apparent-by-bill-shute-and-david-payne

I will also be featured reading THREE complete poems on a new album on the German “Moloko Plus” label from Alfred 23 Harth. That will be out later this year–stay tuned!

Until then, grab a copy of NEW JERUSALEM….it’s a core sample of 2017 America, as only poetry can provide….

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