Diction

1 Minute Read Time

A birds-eye view of a steamboat on the Mississippi River. Forest is on either side of the river. — Photo by Justin Wilkens on Unsplash

Great wheel pushing the river behind it 

Under it the unattractive paddle cat 

Not many left they say who’d know

so opaque with every state’s topsoil 

even the water is feeling its way 

Missouri Mississippi mingling esses 

You put in a verb just to let off steam 

They make fun of how you say calliope

Allan Peterson

lives and writes in Ashland, Oregon. His most recent book is This Luminous: New and Selected Poems (Panhandler Books, 2019), with inclusions from his last six books. His third book, Fragile Acts (McSweeney’s, 2012), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His website is allanpeterson.net

Return to top of page

Search