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

 

 

     
  Simple Gifts

Allan Peterson
 

 


We fear insects like we fear the dead,
but we have no knowledge of their condition,
lymph or desiccation, blood,
how the inanimate wipes off what night painted
in lampblack and umber.
We think we best them and keep safe our secrets
We think we will be rid of them
and they will be satisfied with our simple gifts
of uneasiness and poisons.

 

 

 

  

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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