John Berbrich on PHASED by George Held

George Held’s Phased [is] a collection of approximately two-dozen poems balanced by an essay in the middle. The topic here is the Moon, old Luna, whose “karma charms / Lovers and alarms lunatics.” Roughly following the calendar, Held presents the Moon in several aspects in a variety of seasons. And there’s always surprise. Here’s a haiku, “Manhattan lights / seen from Hoboken — / the half moon.” And that’s exactly the way of it. It’s night and you’re looking at something, a building or down a lonely road—and suddenly there it is, “that old devil,” “Ghostly, in a shroud / Of early morning cloud,” that “Snow man, old man, high-falutin’ man / Floating above the woods.”

These poems work a sort of magic as the pages turn. By the end of the book, one can almost see the pages glow with gentle lunar light. The words remind me to look for the Moon at night, like the face of an old friend.
           
Phased is published by Poets Wear Prada, a fine new publishing house located at 533 Bloomfield Street, 2nd floor, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030. For a copy send a check for $11.50 to publisher Roxanne Hoffman.

Reprinted: John Berbrich, “Book Beat,” Barbaric Yawp, Vol. 12, No. 4, October 2008, pp. 24-25.


Note: The new perfect bound edition of the book is available print on demand for $12 at all the usual places -- Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Abe Books, etc..  You can also your own copy order directly from the publisher. Add another $3 for S&H to receive a signed copy.