Blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsSpring 2015  v14n1
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back ALLAN PETERSON

Influenced

Listening is one way seeing another
and the skin itself completely nonfiction
one of those gold foil curtains unfolding in space
collecting electrons

Rituals arise out of helplessness
simple repetitions strung together like medicines
used to counteract side effects

Hope was a glimpse of possibility
the tiny hole in the door where you could see
the whole parking lot at once the hallway
a woman beheld seemingly weightless gracefully
coming down from the ceiling on a sash

With such effects every instance is poignant
as are all the bones worldwide drifting
slowly to the bottom of the sea
Perfect description is elusive
as paying bills in goldfish
how the determined body fills with water
to keep the bones afloat
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