About the Book From the vast complexities of a world in which synesthesia is our natural translator, the authors poems convey the consistent message that the ordinary isnt. Selected from books and chapbooks covering almost thirty years of writing, the authors work draws heavily from landscapes like the Gulf Coast, the sciences, history, and the authors background in visual arts. Details of perception and observation demonstrate why these reflective works, often dense with images and intuitive jumps, have received national and international recognition. Book Synopsis Oregon Book Awards Stafford/Hall Award for Poetry - Finalist Praise for Previous Work Peterson is one of our most valuable poet-thinkers and thinker-poets, a writer who can show us how much is within our grasp and much is beyond it.-- LA Review of Books His observing eye, as astute as the most finely honed telephoto lens, is such that hes able to transform even the ordinary into something so exquisite it provokes wonder and awe.--Mary Jo Bang Like Brazils undiscovered caverns of amethyst, Allan Petersons Fragile Acts is a major find.--John Ashbery He puts music to the tension between the desperate human experience and the cool removal of the cosmos. His poems are refreshingly discrete artifacts--perfected and edgy--raw at the same time.--Laura Kasischke Allan Petersons meditations on domestic tranquility and ecocatastrophe are so smart that they could actually make you smarter.-- Boston Review Soul-poppingly magnetic.-- The Rumpus From the vast complexities of a world in which synesthesia is our natural translator, Allan Petersons poems convey the consistent message that the ordinary isnt. Selected from books and chapbooks covering almost thirty years of writing, Petersons work draws heavily from landscapes like the Gulf Coast, the sciences, history, and the authors background in visual arts. Details of perception and observation demonstrate why these reflective works, often dense with images and intuitive jumps, have received national and international recognition.