A few words about writer and performer, and beloved friend, Paul Dutton, who passed away at Princess Margaret Hospital last week from complications of cancer at age 81. Born in Toronto on December 29, 1943, Paul was a significant and longstanding figure in Canadian and international experimental poetry: sound poetry, textual work and visual poetry. He was a member of the Four Horsemen and, from 1989, the CCMC.
Greg Betts wrote on Facebook, that Paul was “A grumbly genius or a genius grumbler,” and it’s true Paul could be a curmudgeon and a stickler about almost anything. From hyphens – when I edited his selected poems, we had hours-long conversations about hyphens and every other detail of writing – to bartenders never quite filling up a pint glass, a fact that we delighted in when the Toronto Star did an article which revealed he’d be correct about it for years. But Paul often joked self-deprecatingly about his own nature.
And he was the timeless master of the digression, often nesting five digressions inside each other and somehow coming out of them one by one.
But I understand that his perfectionism came from his irrepressible enthusiasm and intense commitment to everything he did and his belief in fairness, decency and getting things right. He truly believed in the possibility of the world and the value of things and people. Yes, the glass wasn’t full enough, but never pessimistic, Paul knew that with enough care, it could be.
Michael Dean wrote “No one improvised … like Paul Dutton, [he was] totally committed to each separate moment.”
Paul was totally committed to each separate moment in every aspect of his life.
Paul was a remarkable supporter, friend and mentor to innumerable writers and musicians over the years. Even in his later years of poor health, he could be counted on to bicycle all over Toronto to events, a sign of his interest and support of poets, musicians and their art. It’s especially notable how supportive he was of young and emerging artists—in his conversations, attendance, and advice. In his enthusiasm and expansive kindness. Greg Betts told me that for the last three years, Paul gave books to all the members of his creative writing class at Brock.
Paul was also committed to the legacy and memory of older artists (for example, his many articles about bpNichol are essential and invaluable and his work ensuring that the availability of Underwhich Editions were not forgotten.) He was a loyal and supportive friend and an active social justice advocate. He felt the world was his responsibility.
Paul was, of course, an astounding writer and performer—he was the international advocate for his invented term “soundsinger”—as part of the Four Horsemen, the CCMC and with his own solo publications, recordings and performances. He was particularly known internationally for these performances. Paul published seven books of poetry and his work appeared in innumerable periodicals and anthologies. His single novel, Several Women Dancing, is surprising, compellingly musical, and unusual.
He began writing and performing in the mid 1960s, and somehow, he continued to get better and better, even into his last years. Inventive, dynamic, virtuoso, innovative.
A more formal overview of Paul’s life and work is here where I’ve posted the biography and introduction to his Sonosyntactics: Selected and New Poems. His website pdutton.ca is also a tremendous resource.
He used to like to recount bpNichol’s quip that one shouldn’t ask Paul how he was feeling…because he’d tell you. But despite the complex and intersecting illnesses he faced at the end, his vitality, engagement, loving nature, and irrepressible wit, and humour never flagged.
Like everyone else, I’m going to sorely miss this exceptional man. Loving, funny, anecdotal, discursive, argumentative, fulminating, and supportive. I’m going to continue to revisit his inspiring recordings and books. There will be a celebration of Paul’s life and work forthcoming but in the meantime, here, on the internet, let’s raise a never-quite full enough virtual glass to the memory of the extraordinary Paul Dutton, soundsinger of singing, sound, and the song.
To Paul
[adapted from a speech given at the launch of the Muttertongue Trio's launch for What is a Word in Utter Space (Siren Recordings), Toronto, Thursday, July 7th, 2025]
photo credit: Rob Allen
Gary Barwin is a writer, musician and multimedia artist and the author of 34 books including Scandal at the Alphorn Factory: New and Selected Short Fiction 2024-1984 and, with Lillian Allen and Gregory Betts, Muttertongue: What is a Word in Utter Space, published as an LP and a book. His most new novel, The Comedian’s Book of the Dead will be published by Book*Hug in 2026. He lives in Hamilton. garybarwin.com
