From the vast complexities of a world in which synesthesia is our natural translator, Allan Peterson’s poems convey the consistent message that the ordinary isn’t. Selected from books and chapbooks covering almost thirty years of writing, Peterson’s work draws heavily from landscapes like the Gulf Coast, the sciences, history, and the author’s background in visual arts. Below is an excerpt from This Luminous, new and collected poems, published this year by Florida-based small press, Panhandler Books.
Local Influence
Some gravity yes
but I would say fishes assist
in driving the rivers
As a stir imparts swirls
for which the spoon is responsible
likewise Mullet and Bluefish turn
the recurved gyres of the Gulf
Things are what they seem
Celery is constructed of lake ice & floss
What headlights sweep across dark rooms
are ghosts for a moment and out there
the occasional thin shadow of Earth
flickers over Andromeda and who knows
what is made of it
Influence works best at close range
People daily respond to the sign of the Discount
hoarding and selling under the influence
of the Handgun the Oil Spill constellation
Those controlled like stars by the Wood’s Night Voices
are parading in hospitals and on the roof
the rooster and the copper whale turn searching
like scouts The stars camped in the night
are just fires of someone else’s far argument