As with all his recent books, Stephen Bett’s though we are incredibly small is a serial poem (linked poems), highly minimalist in its poetics, and subtle enough to sustain repeated readings.
Here we have poems journeying between poles, searching out the buddha and the christ. There are no (cheap) instant gratification ‘I found its’ here. There never could be of course; it’s all journey, all the time.
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.
- Available now from Phafours Press.
Reviews/Previews
“Stephen Bett is one of the coolest contemporary poets, and a legend internationally. He has a very interesting linguistic technique with a penchant for jazz and words, and if you ask me, jazz-styled writing is where the best of the best is happening right now.”
—Karl Jirgins (Editor, Rampage)
“I am constantly struck by how strong and pliant Stephen Bett’s line is, the image understated, the music so subtle it dances almost unnoticed.”
—Ken Cathers.