What do you think?
Rate this book
Fractures
In his landmark debut, Carlos Andrés Gómez interrogates race, gender, sexuality, and violence to explore some of the most pressing issues of our time. These poems address the complexities and nuances of toxic masculinity, assimilation, homophobia, and the joy and anguish of trying to raise Black children in America. Gómez casts an uncompromising eye toward both brutality and tenderness, going where we are most uncomfortable and lingering in moments of introspection that reveal fear, grief, or hatred. Birthed at a breaking point, these poems carve open silence, revealing fissures that welcome the light. Unflinching, poignant, and powerful, Fractures is both a gut punch and a balm.
104 pages, Paperback
First published October 13, 2020
93 people want to read
About the author
Carlos Andrés Gómez
11 books38 followersHailed as a “truth-telling visionary” by Brass Magazine and a “lyrical prophet” by the Caymanian Compass, CARLOS ANDRÉS GÓMEZ has been dubbed "a leading voice at the forefront of the oral poetry movement" (The Punch). A former social worker in Harlem and the south Bronx and public school teacher in Philadelphia and Manhattan, Gómez has performed at over 200 colleges and universities and toured across North America, Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize and named Artist of the Year at the 2009 Promoting Outstanding Writers Awards, he is a two-time International Poetry Slam Champion (2006, 2010) and co-stars in Spike Lee's #1 movie "INSIDE MAN" (Universal Pictures) with Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, and Clive Owen. Gómez appears on the 6th season of HBO’s “RUSSELL SIMMONS PRESENTS DEF POETRY” – voted “Favorite Poet” of his episode by viewers. Most recently, he showcased his talent in MTV’s first ever poetry slam alongside hip hop luminary Talib Kweli.
GÓMEZ is the star of the Emmy® Award-winning "Respect Yourself" television spots by At Large Films and appears on the third season of the popular Showtime series "The L Word.” He is a two-time National Poetry Slam Finalist – once as a member of the renowned Nuyorican Poets Café's Slam Team that finished 2nd, and later with the NYC/louderARTS Slam Team that finished 3rd in the U.S. He's represented the United States at the Poetry Africa International Festival in Durban, South Africa and been a special guest performer at the MACY’s Passport Fashion Show. He's collaborated with Tony Award-winning tap dance legend Savion Glover on Broadway. In the past year, he was Guest of Honor at the Berlin International Literature Festival, headlined Central Park SummerStage, and opened the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, D.C.
Over the past decade, Gómez has shared the stage with a diverse range of celebrated artists and icons, including Wyclef Jean, MC Lyte, Yusef Komunyakaa, Rosie Pérez, Pete Rock, Ntozake Shange, Toots and The Maytals, Immortal Technique, Reel Big Fish, Suzanne Vega, Saul Williams, Javier Colón and Mos Def.
GÓMEZ is the star of the Emmy® Award-winning "Respect Yourself" television spots by At Large Films and appears on the third season of the popular Showtime series "The L Word.” He is a two-time National Poetry Slam Finalist – once as a member of the renowned Nuyorican Poets Café's Slam Team that finished 2nd, and later with the NYC/louderARTS Slam Team that finished 3rd in the U.S. He's represented the United States at the Poetry Africa International Festival in Durban, South Africa and been a special guest performer at the MACY’s Passport Fashion Show. He's collaborated with Tony Award-winning tap dance legend Savion Glover on Broadway. In the past year, he was Guest of Honor at the Berlin International Literature Festival, headlined Central Park SummerStage, and opened the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, D.C.
Over the past decade, Gómez has shared the stage with a diverse range of celebrated artists and icons, including Wyclef Jean, MC Lyte, Yusef Komunyakaa, Rosie Pérez, Pete Rock, Ntozake Shange, Toots and The Maytals, Immortal Technique, Reel Big Fish, Suzanne Vega, Saul Williams, Javier Colón and Mos Def.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 13, 2020
This is what it’s all about. Simply the greatest collection of poetry I’ve ever read. Carlos Andrés Gómez is a true artist. Cutthroat with elegant precision and an expansive depth of truly beautiful redemption. A must-read and an essential component of any poetic or literary collection.
January 21, 2023
“Fractures” by Carlos Andrés Gómez is a deep, moving, and unsettling collection of poetry that touches on some of the most urgent issues that permeate our society from the past, to the present, and into the future.
The opening piece reflects on the police shooting of Michael Brown Jr., and the sentiment that he cannot protect his family from potential harm in an unjust, racist world. This prelude is just a taste of what’s to come.
At the turn of each page emerges a story within each piece, couched in the framework of a few lines of poetry or prose. One of my favourites is a reflection on race that rings true for many of us, on the tether of parenthood that pulls us back from losing control and retaliating when confronted with racism:
I have watched my body’s primal wisdom flicker dark as a fist-concealed palm, ache so volatile it screams mute. Rage is a language I unlearn […] –INTERRACIAL IN FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN
Another that stayed with me, hauntingly, was human resilience amidst the dark history of segregation that lives alongside us to this day:
[…] the cashier refused to offer her a word, instead pointed to the White Only sign and motioned toward a dung-filled field where she was forced to squat as a busload of tourists watched her slide her drawers to her ankles, trembling to keep her balance, trying to spare her church shoes and her grace. There is a child, four generations from now, who will remember […] a woman he’s never met alive on the wall of his grandmother’s foyer: bloodshot eyes that refuse to look away. –UNDERGROUND
Along with the overarching theme of racism, there are others: homosexuality, masculinity, fatherhood, birth, death, an immigrant’s struggle, and much more.
The overall sense of the body of work is fragments of a whole — a window into the many constructs that make up a man. From practicing to do hair (to get it right, though his own father couldn’t with his sister) in preparation for his daughter’s arrival (“I can feel, with each pull and twist, the newly assembled crib watching”); to a father’s fervent prayer every time his Black son is away from home that he returns safely (“I will have nothing to offer the stoic night but clasped hands. And then, I will wait. I will sit beside the front door and wait”); to an immigrant’s duality of existence slipping between contrasting worlds (“You hardly remember your mother tongue. You are trying to pull something useable from the wreckage”), we feel his powerlessness battling with his strength to overcome life’s hurdles and setbacks as he becomes a man, a parent, a person with something worthy to say.
From beginning to end, this collection of poetry leaps off the page to assault all the senses, transporting us into the mind and lived experience of a fragmented, fractured man that represents pieces of us all. Gomez also references contemporary events and other authors, placing his own work into specific contexts for interpretation. As with any amalgamation of poetry, there are many pieces that aren’t entirely straightforward as they may be personal to the author or written in an elusive way; yet the sentiment is there: we feel the meaning, even if we don’t understand every word.
This is the kind of work that students of literature can pull apart to analyze, and everyone can find a different kernel of wisdom or poignant phrase to admire. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to others.
The opening piece reflects on the police shooting of Michael Brown Jr., and the sentiment that he cannot protect his family from potential harm in an unjust, racist world. This prelude is just a taste of what’s to come.
At the turn of each page emerges a story within each piece, couched in the framework of a few lines of poetry or prose. One of my favourites is a reflection on race that rings true for many of us, on the tether of parenthood that pulls us back from losing control and retaliating when confronted with racism:
I have watched my body’s primal wisdom flicker dark as a fist-concealed palm, ache so volatile it screams mute. Rage is a language I unlearn […] –INTERRACIAL IN FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN
Another that stayed with me, hauntingly, was human resilience amidst the dark history of segregation that lives alongside us to this day:
[…] the cashier refused to offer her a word, instead pointed to the White Only sign and motioned toward a dung-filled field where she was forced to squat as a busload of tourists watched her slide her drawers to her ankles, trembling to keep her balance, trying to spare her church shoes and her grace. There is a child, four generations from now, who will remember […] a woman he’s never met alive on the wall of his grandmother’s foyer: bloodshot eyes that refuse to look away. –UNDERGROUND
Along with the overarching theme of racism, there are others: homosexuality, masculinity, fatherhood, birth, death, an immigrant’s struggle, and much more.
The overall sense of the body of work is fragments of a whole — a window into the many constructs that make up a man. From practicing to do hair (to get it right, though his own father couldn’t with his sister) in preparation for his daughter’s arrival (“I can feel, with each pull and twist, the newly assembled crib watching”); to a father’s fervent prayer every time his Black son is away from home that he returns safely (“I will have nothing to offer the stoic night but clasped hands. And then, I will wait. I will sit beside the front door and wait”); to an immigrant’s duality of existence slipping between contrasting worlds (“You hardly remember your mother tongue. You are trying to pull something useable from the wreckage”), we feel his powerlessness battling with his strength to overcome life’s hurdles and setbacks as he becomes a man, a parent, a person with something worthy to say.
From beginning to end, this collection of poetry leaps off the page to assault all the senses, transporting us into the mind and lived experience of a fragmented, fractured man that represents pieces of us all. Gomez also references contemporary events and other authors, placing his own work into specific contexts for interpretation. As with any amalgamation of poetry, there are many pieces that aren’t entirely straightforward as they may be personal to the author or written in an elusive way; yet the sentiment is there: we feel the meaning, even if we don’t understand every word.
This is the kind of work that students of literature can pull apart to analyze, and everyone can find a different kernel of wisdom or poignant phrase to admire. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it to others.
November 4, 2021
I think I understand why Carlos Andrés Gómez titled his new book, Fractures. When you take a step back to view how the book reflects his life, it is like looking through a broken window. As a reader you can kind of see Carlos’s life, but there are interesting breaks in the book as a whole that challenges what you think you see.
First, the poems are written in different forms, with different rhythms and rhyming schemes. A few have distinct visual aspects that enhance the reading of the poems (“Father”, “Praise”, and “What Happened”).
Another aspect is the subject matter of the poems in conjunction with Carlos’s personal timeline. Each turn of the page can send you to any moment in his life. The reader can find themselves in middle school or waiting up for Carlos’s son to come home.
This fractured overall view is a challenge for the reader to take the time to examine each shard of glass, to read each poem as its own piece. But I warn you to be careful as you read over each line, like nicking your fingers on broken glass, these poems can cut your heart. Especially if you carelessly read them. There are no rose colored glass shards in this book.
Personally, I connected with many of these poems. Carlos expressed an emotion or view that I could relate to, that I understood from my own experiences. I enjoyed all the poems, his voice and emotions fill each line. This book is an example of why we write poetry, why we need poetry, why we live poetry.
First, the poems are written in different forms, with different rhythms and rhyming schemes. A few have distinct visual aspects that enhance the reading of the poems (“Father”, “Praise”, and “What Happened”).
Another aspect is the subject matter of the poems in conjunction with Carlos’s personal timeline. Each turn of the page can send you to any moment in his life. The reader can find themselves in middle school or waiting up for Carlos’s son to come home.
This fractured overall view is a challenge for the reader to take the time to examine each shard of glass, to read each poem as its own piece. But I warn you to be careful as you read over each line, like nicking your fingers on broken glass, these poems can cut your heart. Especially if you carelessly read them. There are no rose colored glass shards in this book.
Personally, I connected with many of these poems. Carlos expressed an emotion or view that I could relate to, that I understood from my own experiences. I enjoyed all the poems, his voice and emotions fill each line. This book is an example of why we write poetry, why we need poetry, why we live poetry.
August 26, 2022
Broad yet specific detail in the description of situations. Although it may feel as if you may be the only one experiencing certain situations Carlos expresses each and every feeling to situations he's been in, either on purpose or unexpectedly. The poem revisionist resonates to me as my grandpa did that to my mom's side of the family and the way she expressed her story sounds oddly familiar to Carlo's point of view. Praise, praise was just beautiful. Carlos here for my welcoming week to my university and I had no idea I'd resonate with anything or anyone so much than this time. May he continue his incredible work, I read the book in one sitting it was immaculate!
June 5, 2024
“Fractures” is an incredibly special collection of poems that showcases Gómez’s strengths in personal storytelling and captivating rhythm. Through exploring a wide range of emotions, experiences, and social issues, this collection gets readers thinking and feeling deeply.
July 31, 2024
Where are you from?
March 7, 2021
“Fractures,” by Carlos Andres Gomez is deeply moving. I read a lot and enjoy books that transport me to another world, real or imaginary, where we get to see and temporarily live in a space of “otherness.” This book of poetry does that excellently. I can feel Carlos’ pain, sorrows, losses, and joys while finding his way through a disjointed world, where tomorrow can never be taken for granted. A place where love will often find a way. We walk with him as he unveils and attempts to make peace with the past while building for his own future, and that of his children. I applaud his struggles with finding himself (and us) and making a whole life out of the fragmented and fractured pieces life leaves us. Carlos is a brilliant spoken word artist and brings that same quality of work and talent to his written word; something not every creative is able to do well. I recommend this book to my friends and family. It is an opening in the window of understanding. It is a book and poems I will return to often.
February 6, 2021
My greatest goal as a high school English teacher is to further develop my students' love of reading. And that's why I am so appreciative of Carlos Andrés Gómez's Fractures. My students dissected his diction, studied his syntax, and praised his pathos that permeates each and every stunning poem in this masterpiece. More specifically, "Underground" helped students better appreciate metaphors and the Civil Rights Movement; "Interracial in Flatbush, Brooklyn" and "Changing my Name" illuminated the nuance of identity; and "Abecedarian for the Pimp I Almost Took a Bullet For," "What Happened," and "Praise" showed my students the significance of a poem's tone and form. For any educators hoping to find a book by a contemporary author, a Latinx author, or a poet who doesn't sound like anyone else, I cannot recommend Gómez's Fractures highly enough.
November 10, 2020
If you are a fan of slam poetry, if you are a fan of contemporary poetry, or even if you are a just a fan of poetry, then you should definitely read Fractures by Carlos Andrés Gómez. It is a remarkable collection of poems that range in topic from finding your identity to confronting our biases to questioning various social issues and norms. Carlos is a keen observer, a dynamic performer, and an incredibly talented wordsmith and, in Fractures, he has once again crafted a series of poems that are powerful, passionate, and truly beautiful. It is a book in which no topic is off limits and its opinionated and unapologetic tone will challenge and invigorate you. I absolutely loved this book and I look forward to Carlos’s next work of art.
November 23, 2020
Patricia Smith's cover quote says it so beautifully and better than I could: "A fierce and formidable redefining of the American family, crafted in a time of havoc and impossibility. This collective lyric upends the chaos and marshals the power fo a son—struggling with questions of hue and root—as he confronts the anguish, confusion, panic, and unleashed joy of becoming a husband and father."
Some lines that will stick with me for a long time:
"Because I have wanted/ to be a father as long/ as I have feared its weigh."
"Because my body/ begins to fail a little more each/ morning in minute & quiet/ increments like gradual,/ gorgeous rust."
Some lines that will stick with me for a long time:
"Because I have wanted/ to be a father as long/ as I have feared its weigh."
"Because my body/ begins to fail a little more each/ morning in minute & quiet/ increments like gradual,/ gorgeous rust."
November 25, 2020
I was extremely excited to receive Fractures as I am a huge fan of Gomez's poetry, especially his live performances. Every poem within Fractures was like diving into a short story and upon reaching the end I wanted to read more. Carlos is gifted in the way he pulls you into his stories and the reader easily gets wrapped up in the emotions of each one.
November 24, 2020
Absolutely riveting and real. I had to stop several times just to take in the words and beauty of them. A must read for poetry lovers and those wanting to make the world a better place!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews