Quasha, George

Word-Yum: Somapoetics 64-69, Seventh Series

New York, NY: Metapoetics Press, 1975. Limited First Edition. Sewn Wrappers. Signed by George Quasha. "Last night I admitted for the first time.../ But the recognition is strangely past us now/ beforethought// -or reading a letter from an old lover upside-/ down, you get the message for the first time, makes sense,/ admit the sensation, let its name germinate/ the recognition but a shell of itself now- Long since/ and gone now, or across from us, other-shored, thrown/ into a dying fall. The narrative is catastrophic." ("Somapoetics 66: Sensation (for Sonia Gotman)," first two stanzas, unpaginated) A chapbook of poems by George Quasha (b. 1942), the acclaimed & prolific American poet, sculptor & performance-video-artist. With an imaginative "Lognostic Gloss(ary)" following the poems. Chapbook in sewn over-wraps with affixed marble paper (or facsimile) cut-outs, a charming production. From an edition of 164 copies, 137 numbered & signed as here, 27 lettered & signed (we wonder- what is that 27th letter?) at colophon. This is copy No. 72/137, signed by Quasha below the hand-limitation. From the collection of Erin Black Matson, the late poet-artist who, along with her husband the noted poet & educator Clive Matson, was a member of the Beat Generation as it morphed into the hippie counterculture during the 1960s. The Matsons were colleagues & protégés (in lifestyle as much as literature) of Herbert Huncke, Bonnie & Ray Bremser, Diane di Prima et al. An early, very rare & desirable Quasha collectible with distinguished provenance. See also our item No. 4898. In relatively near-fine condition considering its long ownership & use by Erin, who was a tried-&-true Beat-Bohemian to the end: Mild-to-moderate rubbing, occasional spotting to front, back over-wrap covers & sewn binding; some tiny bumps, creases & a few very short, closed tears at edges & corners of same & flaps; mostly closed, small chip-tear at edge of cut-out below poet's name on front cover with minimal loss of paper; mild rubbing, browning to edges of text block; one small stain at lower side edge of same. Interior fine with light rubbing, spotting at blank lower margin/ edge of shorter title page; leakage of small stain noted above onto thin blank side edges of some page leaves; tiny bumps, creases at upper corners of same. Near Fine. [Item #4934]

Price: $30.00 save 20% $24.00