Acqua Alta

In her recent book, Acqua Alta, Bedell Phillips voyages through a

sacred trust, love of a dog and grandmother, serious medical

quandaries, sexual escapades, a quest for a good man. This book's

odyssey addresses the current solution for historic flooding in Venice,

poisonous water chemicals, a Miami drug lord, new age kid's version

of blackness, the horror of long terrorist history and ends with the

terror of October 7.

"The words of Bedell Phillips guide us to discover slivers of the

sublime in even nature's subtlest unfoldings, and in the quotidian

delights and small cruelties of being human at this specific moment.

She also takes an unflinching look at world events with poems that

indict the cruelty and carelessness of many people in power. Acqua

Alta deftly combines it all in a collection of poems that keep readers

surprised while leaving us wiser." - Ellen Benson