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
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.