Falsework

by Gary Geddes

On June 17, 1958, Vancouver's Second Narrows Bridge collapsed while under construction, Eighteen men plunged to their deaths. On the cusp of the 50th anniversary of the disaster, critically acclaimed poet Gary Geddes provides an intimate portrait of the many lives affected by the toppling of that seemingly indomitable structure. Pairing his polyphonal narrative with grainy archival photos, Geddes displays a sure-footed authority while balancing the line between documentary and fiction. The Second Narrows collapse was real, and Geddes has a real connection to his father, a former navy diver, was called to the bridge to search for bodies in the wreckage. The voices that speak from the page are fiction; at times raw, occasionally profane, they ring with awful truth.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[David]

An engaging series of varying voices, including the poet's own (in prose), traces all manner of perspectives concerning this engineering failure and the human failures surrounding it. The title--referring to temporary support structures not intended to last--is an especially effective literal and metaphorical focus, as is the idea of 'bridge' as metaphor where 'metaphor' indicates transition from one idea to another.

[Martin Ainsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book. Mixes poetry, prose, and photographs to examine the collapse, in 1958, of the Second Narrows Bridge in Vancouver while under construction. It's a little thin in formal terms, for my taste -- a bit too free in the free-verse -- but an excellent model, nonetheless, for what could be called documentary poetry.