Rara Avis

by Blas Falconer

Regally bearing its Latin title, Rara Avis captures in sparse, moving verse both the splendor and the loneliness of what it means to be exceptional — a rarified specimen, a strange bird. A son, a husband, and now a father, seasoned poet Blas Falconer explores the relationships among men — between peers, lovers, parents and children — to consider and question existing models of authority and power. Falconer’s lucid but feeling gaze reveals social complexities with searing and graceful imagery, asking what it means to live outside the heteronormative experience while existing as a man, simultaneously a casualty and a participant in the project of masculinity. 


These poems carefully delineate the casual cruelties of queer youth and the beautiful and bitter revelations of adulthood. The wisdom propelling Rara Avis is the knowledge that we are each of us that rare bird; we share our singularity. Everyone has a pancreas, but only one organ matters when Falconer learns his father is afflicted. Alchemized by love, one thing, unlike any other, becomes all things. “All day, everything, / no matter how / small, makes me // think of it” … The bee / crawling in / blossoms // scattered on / the glass/tabletop. The sound of // a pitcher fill- / ing slowly / with water.” 

Genres: Poetry

77 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2024

About the author

Blas Falconer teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Murray State University.

Falconer’s awards include a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers, a Tennessee Individual Artist Grant, the New Delta Review Eyster Prize for Poetry, and the Barthelme Fellowship.

Born and raised in Virginia, Falconer earned an M.F.A. from the University of Maryland (1997) and a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Houston (2002). He currently lives in Los Angeles, California with his family.

Reviews

[Amanda Price · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I definitely found Blas Falconer easier to digest than other poets, but although he is cute, he is not my favorite poet we've covered. There are some peoms in his collection I really enjoyed, and others that felt a little too try hard. Almost as if I could tell I was reading a poem- which I guess is a good attribute to a poem, but for me it isn't my favorite.

I enjoyed how his titles bled into his poem and acted as opening lines in a sense, I found that artistic aspect especially enjoyable. I also really liked the poem "providence", I know exactly what planetarium he's speaking about (the one at the grigith observatory) and love the commentary on the mundaneness of life against the backdrop of the infinite universe. Themes like that are always going to get me. I also really liked "A Theory on Happiness", I am trying to be more hopeful so I felt like this poem really stood out to me and gave me that bittersweet feeling I am chasing. It reminded me a lot of hopecore on instagram which I am currently obsesses with.

Other poems I wasn't super impressed with and immediately forgot about them after closing the book. In anycase, i rated it 2 stars on goodreads because of this fact.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stirring collection of poems that hover around the strangeness of being a parent while coming to terms with the mortality of those who brought is into the world. A book of starling observations and deeply felt disappointments.

[Amanda Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

These poems are finely crafted and my favorite one is “My son wants to know who his biological father is.”

[isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Will I be
happy, he asks,

guiding the car
along the cliff's edge,

and the friend, who is
somewhat older, says, Yes,

you will be happy but
you will not know it."

poetry books are like snacks in between novels