Jack Peterson

Oyster River Pages: Who are the writers who have made you who you are? 
Jack Peterson: Musicians: Joanna Newsom, Leonard Cohen, Sufjan Stevens, Jason Molina, Will Oldham, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, and and and  Poets: Mary Oliver, Walt Whitman, Maggie Nelson, etc. etc. etc. Other writers: Donna Haraway, Karen Barad, Deleuze & Guattari, Flannery O’Connor, JD Salinger and on and on and on Other Artists: James Turrell, Andrei Tarkovsky, Werner Herzog plus plus plus

ORP: What are the lenses that shape your worldview? 
JP: I usually have several ideas from what I am currently reading, watching, listening to, or who I am currently in relationship with that help me make sense of the world. Currently it's readings on posthumanism and new materialism. For most of my life various expression of Christian thought and practice, along with a steady stream of film and music have been most influential in how I view the world.

ORP: What’s the most important thing you’ve read/seen lately? 
JP: Donna Haraway’s Staying with the Trouble

ORP: What’s your least favorite word?
JP: “Their.” I’m fine with there and they’re.  

ORP: What’s your favorite thing that you’ve created? (line, image, story, etc.) 
JP: I wrote a song called “In Bethlehem” that I am very proud of.

ORP: What do you want to read/see more of in the world? 
JP:  People having real conversations, admitting to mistakes, and forgiving each other.  

ORP: How do you pay it forward? 
JP: I try to show kindness and be a restful person to those who need it. I’ve valued people like that in my own life.

ORP: What is the space that has shaped you the most? 
JP: The northwest Georgia mountains where my mother grew up, my grandparents live, and where I went to college.

ORP: You’ve just written your autobiography. What’s the title?
JP: Becoming Light

Jack Peterson lives ordinarily in Upland, Indiana with his wife and two children and runs on country roads. Find his poetry here.