{"product_id":"rara-avis-9781961897021","title":"Rara Avis","description":"\u003cp\u003e Regally bearing its Latin title, \u003ci\u003eRara Avis \u003c\/i\u003ecaptures 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e These poems carefully delineate the casual cruelties of queer youth and the beautiful and bitter revelations of adulthood. The wisdom propelling \u003ci\u003eRara Avis \u003c\/i\u003eis 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.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e Blas Falconer is the author of \u003ci\u003eForgive the Body This Failure\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Foundling Wheel\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eA Question of Gravity and Light \u003c\/i\u003eas well as the coeditor of two anthologies, \u003ci\u003eMentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Other Latin@: Writing Against a Singular Identity\u003c\/i\u003e. The recipient of a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from \u003ci\u003ePoets \u0026amp; Writers\u003c\/i\u003e, he teaches in San Diego State University's MFA program and is the editor in chief at \u003ci\u003ePoetry International Online\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Four Way Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50894952792338,"sku":"9781961897021","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_8c02d12b-0dd9-4b72-a147-67bb978a349a.jpg?v=1738264769","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/rara-avis-9781961897021","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}