No. 40 Winter 2023

Allan Peterson Idealism

It was historic when protection was discovered
that a heroic body could be built from steel parts
making a fine art of forging greaves with kneecaps
underbite helmets articulated fingers that could peel a safe
They gleamed so muscle by muscle one could almost forget
vulnerability the experience of touch out of touch
We love the look of the body just not the ones we have


Allan Peterson’s most recent book is This Luminous: New and Selected Poems. Some other titles include Precarious; All the Lavish in Common (Juniper Prize); and Fragile Acts, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.