STATE LINES California Poetry

Poetry is by default about desire, about the poet’s state of want. But a poem will carry no dramatic tension unless some obstacle stands between the poet and his or her fulfillment. Blas Falconer’s “On Desire” serves up a coming-of-age narrative that directly makes use of an erotic trope. The poem’s deterring force appears at the outset. Falconer describes his body as “its own/ calamity.” Following that phrase with “I locked” hanging at the line break intensifies the feeling of suppressed longing. At the end of this scene, rich with sexual energy, the boy has every opportunity to gain what he wants but refuses his neighbor’s invitation because he senses he’s not ready for it. My body was its own calamity. I locked the door and stood in the mirror to consider what had begun to change against my will. This was my father’s razor, but who was my father, a man? And what was that? The window looked on the neighbor’s house where the oldest son spent afternoons beneath his car, the drive strewn with tools, his hands and shirt smeared with grease. One day, he called to me from his garage where I found him leaning against the far wall. Come closer, he said, his jeans pulled down to his thighs, and I didn’t but wanted to. “On Desire” is from “Forgive the Body This Failure” © 2018 by Blas Falconer. Appears with permission of Four Way Books. All rights reserved.

Blas Falconer is the author of three books of poetry: “A Question of Gravity and Light,” “The Foundling Wheel” and his newest collection, “Forgive the Body This Failure.” A recipient of an NEA fellowship, he lives in Los Angeles and teaches in the MFA Program at San Diego State University.

David Roderick is the author of the poetry collections “Blue Colonial” and “The Americans.” He is co-founder of Left Margin Lit: A Home for the Literary Arts, in Berkeley.

Emily Petrie Blas Falconer