Falconer received his M.F.A. from the University of Maryland and his Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston. He is the author of The Perfect Hour (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2006) and A Question of Gravity and Light (University of Arizona Press, 2007), and his work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Another Chicago Magazine , Third Coast , Puerto del Sol , Poet Lore , New Delta Review , and the Baltimore Review . “Lighter” originally appeared in the Hampton-Sydney Review .