A Question of Gravity and Light

It is rare to find contemporary American poetry that speaks to readers with engaging directness, free of pretense or posturing. That is exactly the kind of poetry that Blas Falconer writes. In his first collection, Falconer presents 46 poems that are emotionally forthright and linguistically evocative but written without affectation or subterfuge. Although Falconer is formally trained and is aware of the structures and potential of both free verse and traditional poetic forms, he crafts exquisite, heartfelt poems that surprise us with their simple intensity.
Whether writing about the mysteries of childhood or the pleasures of cruising for gay sex in a metropolitan airport, he surprises us with the delicacy of his touch, never obvious or heavy-handed. As a gay man who embraces his Puerto Rican heritage, Falconer stands at an edge of American society, and there is the tension of borders in his work: borders between peoples and nations as well as the less visible, more porous and deceptive borders between family members and lovers. There is not one point of view in these poems but many. It is the quality of their observational power that binds them together. Whether the setting is the hospital room of his dying grandfather or his own backyard teeming with garrulous tree frogs, Falconer transports us to the scene. It is easy for us to imagine what he sees. And we care, deeply, just as he does.

“Blas Falconer illuminates the transitory nature of all human satisfaction and comfort. Reading this work animated, enlivened, and impelled my own imaginative sense of the possibilities for meaning present in the world around me.” —María Meléndez, author of How Long She’ll Last in This World “Blas Falconer pursues Puerto Rico,sexuality, and the power of objects.This book powerfully maps what has been lost, what can be stolen, and what can be reclaimed.” —Rane Arroyo, author of How to Name a Hurricane Dead Reckoning
The Given Account
Lament
Letter from the Cumberland
To Orpheus
A Definition of Terms
In the Absence of Love, the Heart Seeks a Constant
Letter from the Cumberland
A Story of Winter
Homage
Waterborne
To Know You Better
What We Have
Letter from the Cumberland
Want
The Feast of St. John
The Fear of Being Known
A Ride in the Rain
A Call from Whitman Walker Clinic
Letter from the Cumberland
Never
This
Dear Friend
Letter from the Cumberland
What You Know
Simile
And Though We Know It Does No Good
Benediction
Elegy
Letter from the Cumberland
The Vanishing Point
The Autopsy
Prayer
The Muse
To Useless Things
Letter from the Cumberland
In the Garden: After
Elsewhere
The Perfect Hour
Beyond This
Not There
Hubble’s Law
Perihelion
The Battle of Nashville
A Question of Gravity and Light
Epilogue
Acknowledgments