Description
In High Maintenance an ironic wit colours poems about everything in contemporary Canadian life from literature and hockey to Y2K and snowboarding. Stephen Bett’s poetry is a self-referential funhouse that reflects the modern tension between a commitment to ideas and life in a pop-culture world.
About the author
Stephen Bett's writing and college teaching life has been informed by the "counter tradition " of Black Mountain, the San Francisco Renaissance, and the New York School (1st and 2nd generations), and how that played out in Canada with the TISH poets, and beyond. His more recent books are "minimalist " in form, often stretching into "serial poems (book-length "linked poems"). This allows for the surprise of echoing back and forth — everything from idea to image to cadence. Bett's work, like its creator, is recognized as funny, satirical and unique. He lives in Vancouver. Previous books include: Re-positioning , Track This: A Book of Relationship, Extreme Positions, Sass 'n Pass, Three Women, Nota Bene Poems: A Journey, and High-Maintenance.
