Bill Shute

Satori in Natchez Bill Shute

SATORI IN NATCHEZ collects seven six-page open-field poems by San Antonio poet BILL SHUTE, composed in Summer 2017: Guest Register; New Jerusalem; Meltdown; Time Crystals; The Difficulties, The Responsibilities; Satori In Natchez; and Arising, Abiding, and Decay. Shute's work is rooted in the post-Projective Verse poetics of Blackburn, Berrigan, and Eigner, but completely his own. The title of one of his spoken-word poetry albums sums up his approach: Junk Sculpture From The New Gilded Age. The poetry echoes his work with such avant-garde musician-composers as Derek Rogers, Marcus Rubio (aka More Eaze) and Alfred 23 Harth, while being steeped in the culture and particulars of Natchez, Mississippi, where the poems were composed. The book's epigraph comes from composer Morton Feldman: "silence is my substitute for counterpoint." The seven pieces were previously published in handmade editions of 41 copies each in 2017, all sold out within months.