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It Starts from the Belly and Blooms: Poems Paperback – February 25, 2014
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length114 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherThree Rooms Press
- Publication dateFebruary 25, 2014
- Dimensions6 x 0.3 x 8.9 inches
- ISBN-100989512541
- ISBN-13978-0989512541
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Mark Bibbins, winner of Lambda Literary Award, Sky Lounge
"It Starts from the Belly and Blooms dives facefirst into the glory and wildness of life, combining fearless authenticity, humor, and a gut-punching ear for images. All the reader can do is hope that Fucaloro be accorded what he deserves: a lasting mark on the face of American poetics."
Corrina Bain, Writer-Performer, Staff at the louderARTS Project
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Three Rooms Press; 1st edition (February 25, 2014)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 114 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0989512541
- ISBN-13 : 978-0989512541
- Item Weight : 6 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.3 x 8.9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #5,384,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #27,423 in American Poetry (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the poetry humorous and thought-provoking. They describe it as poignant, hysterical, and relatable. The author tackles heavy topics that span the emotional spectrum from despair to hope. Overall, customers find the writing satisfyingly unpredictable.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the humor in the book engaging. They say it's witty and thought-provoking, with parts that are visceral, poignant, and hysterical.
"...Equal parts visceral, poignant, hysterical, and thought-provoking, this poetry is like the cosmos... filled with different celestial objects of..." Read more
"...There are expressions of pain, but always counterbalanced with humor, trickles of hope (including for humanity at large), and unexpected destinations..." Read more
"...of us are still trying to articulate, but at the same time with a sense of humor & wit one would not expect...." Read more
Customers find the poetry poignant, hysterical, and thought-provoking. They say it tackles heavy topics that span the emotional spectrum from despair to hope. The poetry is relatable and full of satisfying unpredictability.
"...Equal parts visceral, poignant, hysterical, and thought-provoking, this poetry is like the cosmos... filled with different celestial objects of..." Read more
"...His work is both highly relatable and full of satisfying unpredictability. A raw, yet artistically disciplined, big hearted read." Read more
"...He tackles some heavy topics that span the emotional spectrum from utter despair to extreme joy...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2022I read this book every year. It's become a ritual. I often times find myself thinking about these poems at the most random moments; during a work meeting, at the dentist, at the train station... they really do stay with you.
These poems warm your soul and then tear it apart. They will make you laugh while you reassess your reality. Equal parts visceral, poignant, hysterical, and thought-provoking, this poetry is like the cosmos... filled with different celestial objects of varying temperaments. It's as luminescent as a nebula, as cataclysmic as a quasar, and as mystifying as the Boötes Void.
Broken-Japanese-Teacup Fucaloro is the best poet I know. His poetry has made camp in my brain, and is probably going to live there for the foreseeable forever.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2022Fucaloro is a master of his art with a distinctive voice and perspective. There are expressions of pain, but always counterbalanced with humor, trickles of hope (including for humanity at large), and unexpected destinations. The poet knows how to bend thoughts into new shapes with his words. His work is both highly relatable and full of satisfying unpredictability. A raw, yet artistically disciplined, big hearted read.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2014An amazing book of poetry!!! Thomas Fucaloro goes down deep into those crevices of the soul and finds the truths so many of us try to leave behind. He has an uncanny knack for bringing to the fore, all those dark emotions that most of us are still trying to articulate, but at the same time with a sense of humor & wit one would not expect. He tackles some heavy topics that span the emotional spectrum from utter despair to extreme joy. All the while letting the reader know that light always follows darkness, if you allow yourself to see it. Great book! Get your copy today!!!
- Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2015This poetry collection for the avid reader, the short attention-span non-reader, and everyone in between. For those who love and hate poetry, for those who need to be converted to appreciate poetry. For those who do not understand poetry and for those well versed in poetry. For those who love the unconventional, tender, crass, experimental, accessible, profound and unique poetry. And Fucaloro’s poetry tells stories. This is the range that he has.
It Starts from the Belly and Blooms is filled with powerful lines that grab you, make you have to pause a minute. They will punch you in the belly.
It begins with the poem, “Waking up in a bathtub full of ice cubes”. Its first line is, “The heart is an organ best served cold.” It continues with a rhythmic telling of heartache after a one night stand.
“He walks to the edge of the George Washington Bridge and whispers Helen” is another example of simple yet strong lines, which Fucaloro describes grief in one image: “He touches his chest/ there’s no pulse/ but try telling that/ to Helen.”
Another favorite is “Sammy the nerdy, depressed but optimistic poet-penguin boy”. This poem truly captures Fucaloro’s unique style. The boy in the poem is personified, described like a penguin, and the underlying description of a suicide is both haunting and subtle:
What’s black and white and red all over?
A penguin who believes in himself.
A penguin who believes he can fly.
“Growing Flowers – after Jeanann Verlee’s Country Hard,” has a very good use of language in poetic form that tells a narrative, with a man’s belly as its centerpoint image. It speaks of coming of age, vegetarianism, loss, guilt, and “Some stretch of skin, poems deep.”
“The many uses of knives,” “She wouldn’t let me into her pants but she let me into her heart,” and “Air in a Frame” are more examples of strong poems which tell profound stories. But there aren’t only serious pieces. There are poems with humorous wit like “Dear Starbucks,” “Felt more like a release” and “What Tom and Jerry said behind the scenes.”
There are sixty four poems in It Starts from the Belly and Blooms. You will not be disappointed. And if you have a chance to see him perform his work, you will find a dynamic poet with a passionate voice.
- Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2014"I absolutely enjoyed this book and each of it poems. Thomas Fucaloro is clever, brilliant and absolutely funny!
This book has made me cry, laugh out loud and in some instances I had to stop, think and see things from a different perspective. Who would of imagine that a book of poems can do that?
The way he depicts pain in his poems it is absolutely brilliant and heart-wrenching. Fucaloro is not afraid to show his vulnerability and he is honest with his writing. As a reader that's what you want from the author: honesty.
These poems show the reader the irony of life from birth to death, love to heartbreak, loneliness and coping with loss to rebirth.
My Favorite Poems:
"My dog knows all my poems"- Favorite line: "There are days I feel lost without you and you aren't anything anymore."
"Waking up in bathtub full of ice cubes"- Favorite line: " Her eyes sparkled moon June blossoms in mid May. She is the one for me. My Saturn run rings around her Jupiter."
"He walks to the edge of the George Washington Bridge and whispers Helen"- Favorite line: " Our bridges are what connect us.
The souls of the lost in these
wondrous beams of steel
are a testament to those
who have chosen to jump."
"The moon is a gentle reminder"- Favorite line: "The moon is a gentle reminder of every woman who has drowned a man without apology."
"No use crying"- Favorite line: "What I discovered was all children see the world the same...lost"
"The new literature" -Favorite line: "Violence is the new literature"
"I would do you if the lightning is right"- Favorite line: "I found my voice in you. Its weird how your opinion of a poet changes when you are not sleeping with them".
"The many uses of knives" - Favorite lines: " like that carbon cold steeled machete/hanging from my ribcage that my father/left me when he left me for another addiction
or
or my teeth are just various blades all in a row/these beaded blasted blade beasts lining my lips/are the cornerstones of how vicious my mouth/can truly be".