r i g h t  h a n d  p o i n t i n g

short fiction  short poetry  short commentary  short..uh..art

 

 

     
  Hospice

Allan Peterson
 

 


Once the monotony of breath had been removed
once the depression like a pet bird
was turned loose to pine on wires around the house we could rededicate ourselves
not to lose the next one to yearn harder say the names
of things they loved more often
say loudly things that start again world with the lights on
say fennel say ivy say indigo
and not just strong names but stack up the very bones
like a barrier say ulna say clavicle
push them like heavy dressers against the doors
 

 

 

  

Allan Peterson lives in Gulf Breeze, Florida He the author of a book, Anonymous Or, and two chapbooks, Stars On A Wire and Small Charities.  His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Gettysburg Review, Many Mountains Moving, West Wind, Arts & Letters, Northwest Review, Jabbwerwock, Belleview Literary Review, Agni, Blackbird, Drexel Online Journal, Stickman Review, The King's English, Story South, Typo, Prairie Schooner, Beloit Poetry Journal, Mid America Review, and Octopus.  He was the 2002 winner of the Arts & Letters Poetry Prize and has been the recipient of fellowships by the Florida Arts Council and the NEA.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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