03/13/2025
Dear friends,
Some of you may know, but doubtless many do not, that my father, John Peterson, passed away at the end of last year. We're fortunate to share that he passed away quickly in his home, working on the Poetic Matrix website, with clothes laid out for packing to come to a family gathering for the holidays. I treasure the knowledge that until the very end of his life, he was working on his projects and looking forward to the future.
The Poetic Matrix was the great work of my father's life. For over 25 years he delighted in working with poets and others from all walks of life and from around the world. He loved editing and laying out books, and every time he published a new volume he was was excited to share it with his friends, family, and the world. Some of his authors were long-time collaborators and friends with whom he produced multiple volumes; others were those sort of brief, fruitful relationships that that he treasured for the spice, variety, and new insights they afforded into the world and the people who make their lives within it.
Dad was born during WWII, and was drafted into the Vietnam War, and I believe the effects these two conflicts had on him motivated his desire to live peacefully, to engage fruitfully with people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives, and to create art that could perhaps in some ways build relationships between people, and work counter to the forces that produced such awful conflicts.
Over the course of this coming year I'll be tying up the loose ends of the Poetic Matrix, contacting authors, and finishing up what I can of my dad's work. I appreciate the patience of all of the authors as we go through this process, since it will be some time to piece everything together.
We'll be celebrating dad's life on Saturday, March 22nd. If you knew my dad, or appreciated his work, and would like to share anything, please feel free to send a message or leave a comment, and we'll share them at the event. Thank you all for being part of my dad's life – I'm proud that he made so many good friends and shared so many voices in the course of his life.
- Devon
