The Form of Our Uncertainty: A Tribute to Gil Ott

Kristen Gallagher, ed

ISBN 0-925904-31-7; paperback; $15

Description:

These poems, some published in fugitive and now unavailable volumes, by one of the most stringent, impeccable, and generously human poets of our time, are now available as a complete collection, and we see that Ott's compelling vision changes the landscape of the book and of American poetry.

This book also features interviews and responses by:

Ammiel Alcalay, Charles Alexander, Bruce Andrews, Anonymous, Julia Blumenreich, Craig Czury, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Norman Fischer, Kristen Gallagher, Eli Goldblatt, Karen Kelley, Kevin Killian, Hank Lazer, Andrew Levy, Chris McCreary, Toby Olson, Bob Perelman, Leslie Scalapino, Kerry Sherin, Ron Silliman, Heather Starr, Chris Stroffolino, and Mark Wallace.

from the introduction:
"Evidence of Gil Ott's proficiencies have been left in spray paint and street-corner soliloquies, as well as in his work of editing and publishing the poetry and prose of writers practicing diverse tactics and politics. One thing has concerned him consistently: "the struggle to articulate" …His acceptance of uncertainty and his history of stirring things up in status-quo-ville are the defining qualities of Gil Ott's poetics. One thing Gil says he has often reacted against is the assumption that 'people seek out order' ...Perhaps much of Gil's work gets its distinctive edge from his ability to hold tensions and attune to complex, often contradictory senses ...In all of Gil's work one can find a certain pleasure he refers to as 'the satisfaction of articulation' - a presence of hearing and saying, of finding relation through more relation."

- Kristen Gallagher, from the introduction

Reviews:

"I find Gil's ability to move across aesthetic and political lines in a local, unpatronizing, non-ideological and generous way, still all too rare. At the same time, he has managed to remain fiercely independent and completely uncompromising - it is out of such fabric that the best of our culture, a culture that we can claim to be part of, is woven. As such phenomena become recognized more generally… Gil's past and present efforts… will find their rightful place in American literary and intellectual history."

- Ammiel Alcalay

A widely published essayist and poet, Gil Ott founded and directed Singing Horse Press. The journal Paper Air, which the Press published from 1976 through 1990, was the recipient of an Editors' Award from the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses in 1985. Gil's own writing won several awards, including fellowships from the Headlands Center for the Arts (California), and Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

He published several books of poetry, including The Yellow Floor (Sun & Moon, 1985), within range (Burning Deck, 1987), Public Domain (Potes & Poets, 1989) and The Whole Note. Essays focusing on the role of the arts in social change have appeared in American Poetry Review, High Performance, American News Service, M/E/A/N/I/N/G, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Cultural Democracy, and others.

From 1981 through 1995, Ott worked at Philadelphia's Painted Bride Art Center, creating an extensive network of community-based arts and educational collaborations. He served as the first Director of Development for Liberty Resources, a consumer-run organization that advocates for the rights of people with disabilities. He also served on the Boards of Directors of the Community Education Center and Point Breeze Performing Arts Center. In total, Ott worked for more than twenty years as a professional in the field of cultural and community-based nonprofit management.

He lived in Philadelphia with his wife, poet and educator Julia Blumenreich and their daughter Willa. Gil Ott died in 2004.