Transitions: Early Poems: 1979–1989

by Greg Zeck

50 coming-of-age poems about love, lust, family, friendship, and loss. The poems are as accessible as possible while exploring age-old themes. The tagline, "Poems for those who may or may not read poetry," invites the reader to share these universal poetic themes.

102 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2020

Reviews

[M.M. Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greg Zeck, a perpetual friend of irony, in this compilation of poetry has bestowed on us a brother and sister we may never have had, by way of introducing his family frozen in time—in his words, “like the photographs arrayed on a piano.”
In Blood Brothers, the characters enact an ironic ritual and make a mutually beneficial promise mitigated by a threat. The piece could serve as a metaphor for Zeck’s entire collection—a sprinkling of odes to lost friends, laments to lost dreams, palpitations of close calls and hesitations at forks in the road. Hovering above the collection and it’s author is a Catholicism, notable both for it’s presence and its absence, that conveys the feeling we are being drawn through life by unseen forces.
In the end, we learn that love is a plank-walk, whether connubial or extraconnubial, and even though we may be proud owners of a vintage house, we’ll probably still long for a maintenance free condo. In essence, Zeck asserts that art may be exalted, but it is no more or less important than anything else and that writing is only an aspiration, an illusion, a paltry attempt at potency.

[Steven Petrini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-crafted, playful, honest poems remembering times past and present.

Transitions collects poems celebrating the joys, embarrassments, and heartaches of adolescence and young adulthood. Reading them is a bit like being a voyeur looking through the window of Time and seeing what it was like to grow up a Catholic, suburban boy in the 1950s and '60s during the great American middle class doldrums, then encountering the coming-of-age revolution of civil rights, feminism, and sexual emancipation. But the poems don't let you be a voyeur long, because the poet knows you're out there and invites you in to share and remember your own experiences.
These poems are very well-made, playful and clever, accessible yet erudite. Glance through the window of Transitions and relive "first love's full volley," as well as the many "perverse streaks" that desire, sex, guilt, doubt, love, family engender, "...which only poetry can exorcise."
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[Gerald H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book with growing excitement. It is one of the most intelligent poetry collections I've encountered in years, veering between Rabelaisian celebrations of the physicality of passion (hinted by Gauguin's graphics on the cover), to more thoughtful meditations on the transience of our relationships with family, lovers, friends. It encompasses them all with technical agility and gentle (sometimes bawdy) humor. I look forward to the next installment.

[Michael Hoerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly composed and flawlessly executed, Transitions: Early Poems: 1979–1989 by Greg Zeck is as perfect a first book of poems as you hope a first book will be. From its 3 captivating sections to its generous Endnotes, the robust poetic content of this book firmly establishes Zeck as a poet gifted in composition, narrative, and a brilliant restraint to construct each poem as a singular tactile engineering of his unique imagination. Most importantly, again and again the poems come through, catching you off guard with innovation buoyed by Zeck's craftsmanship & experience. In these poems, the overarching idea and meaning behind all facts and events creates something grand and enduring.