Another in an attempt to ensure accessibility to all, this is a text summary of a visual/audio interview. This Pandemic interview was started with praise form Gregory Betts, with such standing in the avant-garde academic world it was high praise indeed. Betts is a poet, prof, editor, and avant-garde ace.
Gregory Betts is a professor at Brock University with a speciality in Canadian and avant-garde literature. He weaves his class structure be what’s new or an effort to engage the pupils curiosities.
Gregory Betts, an acclaimed poet, professor, and editor. Betts speaks to viewers about the vital role of avant-garde poetry in the development of modern literature. By doing this, he sheds light on the importance of considering radical approaches to develop insight and set cultural standards. This essay will explore the themes discussed in the video and build upon Betts’ ideas with personal reflections. He has an obvious love for Ireland (anyone holding festivals or talks or reading then please let the press know as I am sure he would love to come to ireland to talk in a literary event.
He opens up about the power of Gaeilge, his family’s Irish roots and how his own children were back speaking Irish when he taught here in University College Dublin.
Betts explores the terms to describe his work and the work of Beir Bua Press, is it experimental, is it avant-garde or post-avant. The term of post-avant is probably best to loosely describe the world to poetry. He maintains there is no barrier of entry to the avant-garde, it’s in our head. The poetry is based in the body, it is sound, language is alphabet as mark but ultimately sound which comes from the body.
In this YouTube video, viewers gain insight into how poets create both structured and improvised poetry. we learn about the importance of understanding poetic structure and using it to craft creative and captivating works. We explore the balance between carefully planned structure and spontaneous improvisation in order to create performance poetry that is both engaging and entertaining. With examples from his own pieces, Stefano sheds light on the techniques poets use to weave structure, improvisation, and imagery into emotionally captivating works.
Betts says language is a material that needs to be engaged with and not broken down to one interpretation. A somatic experience, Moloney King agrees. Avant-garde poetry is an experimental and unconventional form of poetry which does not adhere to traditional poetic forms or structures. There is an abstraction between the mind and the body, we were taught to control the body, to view it through the lens of sin but we need to remake that connection and sew the body back in with the mind – maybe we can do that through the physicality of language expressed as sound.
Gregory Betts is a prime example of avant-garde poetry that pushes boundaries and encourages creative expression and experimentation. By using language to create abstract images and meanings, Betts creates a unique and innovative approach to poetry that cannot be found anywhere else. His work is thought provoking and invites people to engage with it and explore their own interpretations. His video is an excellent resource to anyone interested in learning more about avant-garde poetry and the possibilities that it can bring.
“Engagement is what makes everything manageable.” Betts.
Visual poetry is the process of making a new visual communication method. Some visual poetry can be describe as concrete (letters used to make an image) But Betts does not prescribe to “concrete” there needs to be room for new engagement.
Betts praises his Irish students, how open they were to the avant-garde, their awareness of form. Moloney king relates this back to learning Gaeilge and using English, this space of Hiberno-English. The irish use English language differently. And of course, Moloney King brings the conversation to Thomas Francis Meagher, (apparently related to the Irish rebel.)
Betts paints a comprehensive picture of its roots and relevance, illuminating the complex history of this artistic movement.
Michelle Moloney King 