Falling to Earth

By Tom Hansen

A bemused, stoop-shouldered figure who is more than a mere speaker--let's call him a protagonist--stalks the poems of Falling to Earth. With candor and an almost grandiose simplicity, Hansen describes the limitations of his middle-aged body and, in so doing, the limitations of his enterprise in mid-life: the gracelessness of survival. Falling to Earth is the journey of a vibrant soul refreshing itself poem by poem.--Molly Peacock, from her foreword

Tom Hansen taught writing and literature for 35 years before retiring to the Black Hills of South Dakota. His credits include Paris Review, The Iowa Review, and The American Scholar.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1929918755
• ISBN13: 9781929918751
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: BOA Editions
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

a view of life and its compromises from middle age

From the middle ground of middle age, Hansen comes to compromises with existence in this this A. Poulin, Jr., Poetry Prize award-winning volume. Of course, it is not the calculated compromise of politics. Rather, Hansen's compromise is a type of thinking, learning, imbuing a light glow to reflection and surroundings; it is a type of wisdom and way of familiarizing oneself with existence. Oftentimes, the compromise arises from encounters with nature--as in "Garden Plot" when the poet realizes "Our garden is too damn big: a giant plot to get us," and muses that willing the garden to deer and rabbits would be suitable since "we are only migrant workers." Compromise is a proper relationship and temper because one comes "into this world, yet [is] not wholly of it." [from the prose poem "A Little Meditation on a Bubble"] Hansen taught writing and literature at Northern State U. in South Dakota for more than 30 years, and now lives in retirement in the Black Hills.