Un/Wired by Stephen Bett

In this, his 18th book of poetry, internationally acclaimed Canadian poet Stephen Bett is back to working the sassy, edgy margins of social satire. Divided into four sections, this book opens with humor; turns to soft-edge and then to hard-edge, wicked, hilarious satire of our vapid monoculture; and concludes with a section of poems bringing in the angst of it all.

“Un/Wired is the 18th book of poetry by celebrated Canadian poet Stephen Bett…. This book is largely a satire on culture, a sendup of the common man, the unthinking, the state of the unconscious violence of the western world that feeds into the monied corporate elite…. Un/Wired breaks new ground, trashing sacred cows with a wink and a promise….

“The poet plays with language, sometimes invents new words, tangles and repeats words, dangles words in escarpment, as event. Most of the poetry [consists of] short, tight sentences―minimalist―turning the words in on themselves with an edge of humor, a sawed off shotgun delivery, a projection of the violent culture….

“The book has a fantastical blue, black and white cover with binary numbers [and] is divided into four [sections]: “Pre-Wired,” “Soft-Wired,” “Hard-Wired” and “Un-Wired.” Reading Un/Wired cover to cover, it starts slowly and builds to a crescendo[,] beginning with satire and then in the last [section] some love poetry that highlights the emotional violence of having had too many lovers….

“A subtle, raw edge, jazz to jazz in the N.A. street. A fantastical work of post-modernist satire exposing the bones of the violent western malaise in an exciting evolution of the Beat tradition. Un/Wired, by Stephen Bett.

―Subterranean Blue Poetry (Montreal)

“The playfulness of the language in Un/Wired, the rhythms and dexterity with register.”

~ Coach House

“Distinctly better and more interesting than the typical book of contemporary poetry that I see.”

~ Rolf Maurer

Stephen Bett is a widely and internationally published Canadian poet. His earlier work is known for its sassy, edgy, hip… caustic wit–indeed, for the askance look of the serious satirist… skewering what he calls the vapid monoculture’ of our times. His more recent books have been called an incredible accomplishment for their authentic minimalist subtlety. Many are tightly sequenced book-length ‘serial’ poems, which allow for a rich echoing of cadence and image, building a wonderfully subtle, nuanced music. Bett follows in the avant tradition of Don Allen’s New American Poets. Hence the mandate for Simon Fraser University’s Contemporary Literature Collection to purchase and archive his personal papers for scholarly use. He is recently retired after a 31-year teaching career largely at Langara College in Vancouver, and now lives with his wife Katie in Victoria, BC. .

Book Information:

· Paperback: 124 pages

· Binding: Perfect-Bound

· Publisher: BlazeVOX [books] 

· ISBN: 978-160964-253-2

$16

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