Publisher's Synopsis
About Heavy Things J.G. Finch wrote Heavy Things while living in a small, closet-sized room in an old hotel in Pasadena. Most poems were written from J.G. Finch's real experiences and from him wandering the streets at night, taking it all in. In Heavy Things, Finch paints his emotions into words. From the eyes of a simple, poor black man living in America, Finch captures the subtle emotions of an average man who struggles with alcohol abuse, lack of money, and heartache. In several poems, Finch jostles with racism and writes about the idea of suicide and the limitations of love. He then surprisingly writes in an arrogantly confident way, as if waiting on the right moment to yell checkmate, before winning the game against an uninformed player: "He is bitterness and too much cologne. A man masked in disguise. I despise his smell I hate his jealousy I hate his lies of manhood His stories of the military are always embellished. He speaks of football loudly to please his brothers. I do not believe him. I always stay far away from him. And there he goes for the first attack. He rattles the crowd to get attention first, like always. He is like a bull with no brain, rushing to a sword hidden behind my back. And there he is, on the ground The crowd-their mouths open And there he is, still laying on the ground The sound of the ambulance is coming" Poems from Heavy Things are a well-crafted mix of beautiful subtleties with a surprising strength of muscle, and words that are deep, honest, and melancholy. The span of different emotions in Heavy Things, gives this work a more interesting balance than many other poetry books. Finch's writing does not follow the stereotypes of most disadvantaged artists. His writing is his alone and is not from the influence of others telling him how he is supposed to write.