Extreme Positions

Spent quite some time going through Stephen Bett’s work. Was impressed by the consistency
of voice & tone. Read quite a few out loud to catch his modality. Lots of quick skips and
shifts you don’t catch if you read too quick. Reminded me of Olson’s comment on Pound, how
his mind moves like light on water.             Ken Cathers, poet

Keep going with this sequence. The soft-core-help-books on sex really
deserve to be skewered. I like reading mocking, dismissive, and allusive
humour, especially when it shows up in your poems. Always will.
                                      John Tyndall, poet, critic

I’m already a big fan of your poems, so these ones only corroborate that fact. You have great
energy and are full of life and, my god, you sure know how to write....Great fun. I really like the
poetry -- immensely! I know if Joel Oppenheimer were alive he would love your new book of
poems. These are just the kind of poems he championed. All the poems are very good in this
collection, but some are sensational, really, and I marvel at their execution and delivery, they
are so full of jazz and what comes after jazz, whatever that is. ...The book is a seamless entity,
joined by these parts (the poems), telling the story of a man in the beginnings of the new century.
They are pleasing to the ear, pleasing to hear, they look good on the page, they are so subtley crafted. ...
Bravo! I’m still reading your books and still liking reading them, great stuff, in fact.
                         Michael Stephens, poet, novelist, critic, award winning author

Stephen Bett

Stephen Bett has had eight previous books of poetry published: Sass-n Pass (Ekstasis Editions, 2008);
Three Women (Ekstasis Editions, 2006); Nota Bene Poems: A Journey (Ekstasis Editions, 2005);
Trader Poets (Frog Hollow Press, 2003); High-Maintenance (Ekstasis Editions, 2003); High Design
Refit (Greenboathouse Books, 2002); Cruise Control (Ekstasis Editions, 1996); Lucy Kent and other
poems (Longspoon Press, 1983).

His work has also appeared in over 100 journals in Canada, the U.S., England, Australia, and
Finland, as well as in two anthologies, and on radio. He is a member of the English Department
at Langara College in Vancouver.