Punto.: Poems with Time Running Out

By Geoff Peterson

Punto is the point at which all convergences meet. Beginning as a map to a new life, Punto reads like a progression of guided meditations that proclaim: All is metaphor. Meaning? Meaning a man goes deeper into his own head than is good for him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781491832554

Geoff Peterson

Born just after World War II, Peterson inherited his mother's nervous system and went on to memorize and perform poetry in a lyric vein for family and card parties. Raised Catholic, the boy learned the value of dreams, visions, and the soothing aspects of prayer in unison. He later earned degrees in Literature and Writing at Eastern Washington University, and served as poetry editor for Willow Springs Magazine. With the publication of his first novel in 1989, Peterson turned his back on mainstream publishing and has not looked back. Since 2007 he has published nearly thirty books of poetry and fiction. He lives in the Southwest and still gets around.

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© 2013 geoff peterson. All rights reserved.

Photo credits:   Very Large Array, U.S. Highway 60, New Mexico, 2011 (front cover)

                        Shrine Door, Fort Lowell, Tucson AZ, 2013 (back cover)

                        Self-Portrait, 2012

© Geoff Peterson/Megan Collins

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse        12/04/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-3254-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-3255-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013920267

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Listening in Tongues

Introduction

guided meditation

dream asylum

referral

our first session

the way west

south by southwest

113 degrees

Hanging Gardens

pueblo days

desert living

mlb.com

the lizard life

water rites

12 essentials for retirement in Punto:

just sitting, talking

nest building

postcard

idyll

obit

greatest hits

Punto: or, the ambiguities

back east

cat nap

the phone call

sense & matter

good morning

a new account

the messenger

poolside protocol

the mall sutra

filling boxes

laps

ornithalogy

M.I.A.s

blacklisted

skull, crossbones

retired

poolside geckos

the grid

mis fotos, mi arte

Radio Punto

evening stroll

Geronimo

airport shuttle

call from the east coast

Sunday drive

exit dream

flamenco

Lazlo: one way out

Stanislav’s latest

live stream

midnight, train

I-70

in bed

life support

the Mesquite Group

walkabout

waterhole

Margot at swim

eternal rest

peace, quiet

[8 a.m.]

lone wolf

scenes lit by lightning

Jack

book signing

monsoon

same day surgery

my karma

appnt. @ the clinic

flashback

baseball news

deep tissue

el raton

outliers

getting known

pillow talk

the Punto Session: a fragment

suspicion

meltdown

Unexplained

snapshot

2nd opinion: Nogales

my last book

awol

walking the perimeter

oracle

tales of courage

my first house

Very Large Array, 2010

the back lot

Letter to Ward

at the border

Acknowledgments

for those who travel

the elusive road to Punto

and, naturally, Stanislav:

Know thy process

Over is good, he thinks. Finality…good.

—John L’Heureux

Departures

the earth too old

trees too old

grass too old

our lives too old…

—Charles Hine

Ghost Shirts

If you breathe out and cannot breathe in again,

you are dead.

—Sogyal Rinpoche

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Listening in Tongues

there are many voices but one man—

who must that be?

punto (Sp.) m. point; dot; spot; moment; period, full stop…

The point is you’re heading straight for it as an imaginary spot out there, a vector or tangent. As you approach it looms up until suddenly it’s everything: you’re there, and you wonder what all the fuss was about.

When working on a project I’ll begin to notice something: minutiae that enter my life come from darkness and deserve attention. Correspondences, synchronicities, hypnagogic imaging, random quotes & passages occur as if summoned at depth. In Punto, without the guidance of design, except that of movement between trance-like states, I engage voices