Soft spoken and intuitive, these deeply reflective poems demonstrate the miraculous common currency of thinking, expressed like confidences shared with a reader: “the latent world wavers between us. . . .” Highly visual and verbally chromatic, eschewing punctuation and rigorously open-ended, these poems pursue intimate recognitions in compact forms energized by intuitive jumps.
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Description
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Soft spoken and intuitive, these deeply reflective poems demonstrate the miraculous common currency of thinking, expressed like confidences shared with a reader: “the latent world wavers between us. . . .” Highly visual and verbally chromatic, eschewing punctuation and rigorously open-ended, these poems pursue intimate recognitions in compact forms energized by intuitive jumps.
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-936797-84-4 -
About The Author
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Allan Peterson is author of eight previous chapbooks and five books of poems, including All the Lavish in Common (2005), winner of the Juniper Prize, and Fragile Acts (McSweeney’s, 2012), finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. As a visual artist, Peterson has exhibited widely. He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Florida’s Fine Arts Council. Former chair of the visual arts department at Pensacola State College, he now divides his time between Gulf Breeze, Florida, and Ashland, Oregon.
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Critics' Reviews
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Praise for Peterson’s previous book, Fragile Acts:
“Like ‘Brazil’s undiscovered caverns of amethyst,’ Allan Peterson’s Fragile Acts is a major find.” —John Ashbery
“Fragile Acts is a spacewalk on the wild side. . . . He puts music to the tension between the desperate human experience and the cool removal of the cosmos. This is an exciting new voice, one we’ve been waiting for.” —Laura Kasischke
“Allan Peterson’s meditations on domestic tranquility and ecocatastrophe are so smart that they could actually make you smarter.” —Boston Review
“. . . a poet capable of changing from the personal and interior to the global and exterior in a single work, sometimes in a single line.” —Shelf Awareness -
Excerpts
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Atmosphere
When I saw the sunset all the blue
had drained out of Nevada
the slow tree with the thin years in it
an empress in vermillion chiffon
drifting down behind the Sierras
After an epiphany or scare
one feels histamine tingle skin
I remember beauty is self inflicted
On a gridded floor I watched a spider
choose a path that graphed optimism
A pale moon rose like a ghost of soap -
Weight
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.4 lbs
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Dimensions
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6 × .5 × 9 in
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Awards
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Winner of the Snowbound Chapbook Award, selected by Ruth Ellen Kocher.
Winner of the Juniper Prize.
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Florida’s Fine Arts Council.
Soft spoken and intuitive, these deeply reflective poems demonstrate the miraculous common currency of thinking, expressed like confidences shared with a reader: “the latent world wavers between us. . . .” Highly visual and verbally chromatic, eschewing punctuation and rigorously open-ended, these poems pursue intimate recognitions in compact forms energized by intuitive jumps.
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-936797-84-4
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-936797-84-4
Allan Peterson is author of eight previous chapbooks and five books of poems, including All the Lavish in Common (2005), winner of the Juniper Prize, and Fragile Acts (McSweeney’s, 2012), finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. As a visual artist, Peterson has exhibited widely. He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Florida’s Fine Arts Council. Former chair of the visual arts department at Pensacola State College, he now divides his time between Gulf Breeze, Florida, and Ashland, Oregon.
Praise for Peterson’s previous book, Fragile Acts:
“Like ‘Brazil’s undiscovered caverns of amethyst,’ Allan Peterson’s Fragile Acts is a major find.” —John Ashbery
“Fragile Acts is a spacewalk on the wild side. . . . He puts music to the tension between the desperate human experience and the cool removal of the cosmos. This is an exciting new voice, one we’ve been waiting for.” —Laura Kasischke
“Allan Peterson’s meditations on domestic tranquility and ecocatastrophe are so smart that they could actually make you smarter.” —Boston Review
“. . . a poet capable of changing from the personal and interior to the global and exterior in a single work, sometimes in a single line.” —Shelf Awareness
“Like ‘Brazil’s undiscovered caverns of amethyst,’ Allan Peterson’s Fragile Acts is a major find.” —John Ashbery
“Fragile Acts is a spacewalk on the wild side. . . . He puts music to the tension between the desperate human experience and the cool removal of the cosmos. This is an exciting new voice, one we’ve been waiting for.” —Laura Kasischke
“Allan Peterson’s meditations on domestic tranquility and ecocatastrophe are so smart that they could actually make you smarter.” —Boston Review
“. . . a poet capable of changing from the personal and interior to the global and exterior in a single work, sometimes in a single line.” —Shelf Awareness
Atmosphere
When I saw the sunset all the blue
had drained out of Nevada
the slow tree with the thin years in it
an empress in vermillion chiffon
drifting down behind the Sierras
After an epiphany or scare
one feels histamine tingle skin
I remember beauty is self inflicted
On a gridded floor I watched a spider
choose a path that graphed optimism
A pale moon rose like a ghost of soap
When I saw the sunset all the blue
had drained out of Nevada
the slow tree with the thin years in it
an empress in vermillion chiffon
drifting down behind the Sierras
After an epiphany or scare
one feels histamine tingle skin
I remember beauty is self inflicted
On a gridded floor I watched a spider
choose a path that graphed optimism
A pale moon rose like a ghost of soap
.4 lbs
6 × .5 × 9 in
Winner of the Snowbound Chapbook Award, selected by Ruth Ellen Kocher.
Winner of the Juniper Prize.
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Florida’s Fine Arts Council.
Winner of the Juniper Prize.
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Florida’s Fine Arts Council.
