I am not the kind to visit a grave, smidge of holy land fashioned into

———————a picture made so
——-—a bench a family
———————plot their heads atilt so

———————yellow dogtooth violet,
——-—smatters of it all
———————along City Cemetery

——————-—well that’ll be all the Decoration Day I need

in the photo I had taken of him you can see how Mike’s face had gone and went

———————this wide an aperture
——-—at 1/25th a second
———————did fell his glasses

———————you’ll notice I about lost him
in the crest of, the hill of
———————his eyes so far back in his skull

——————————lost my taste for the country too

————————————————-—good riddance

just do for me this one thing

———————fix that crease his suspenders left on his shirt

 

 

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Lizzy Petersen is from Saint Louis, where she works in public media and directs the student-run publication Outside Literary Magazine. Her poetry can be found in december, Pinch, and Ninth Letter. She is currently an Interchange Fellow for Mid America Arts Alliance and a resident artist for the Kranzberg Arts Foundation.