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Street Roots vendor profile: A thinker, a dreamer, a poet

Street Roots
A pursuit of knowledge is what drives Peter
by Robin Havenick | 13 Sep 2019

In our creative writing circle at Street Roots, Peter Salzmann is a star. He is a regular member, appreciated not only for his inspiring poetic responses to our weekly prompts, but also for his gentle creative listening to the poems of others. 

He is a regular reader at Street Roots poetry events and distributes copies of his work on request. Despite having started writing poetry only a few years ago, he has amassed about 200 pages of poems on a zip drive.

“It just came to me that I could make rhymes,” he said, “so I got started by studying. I got a book about metrics, and I started expanding on it.”

That active pursuit of knowledge is what drives Peter. The Multnomah County Central Library is Peter’s sanctuary. 

“There is so much to learn from the library,” he said with wonder. “I’ve read all of Charles Darwin. I’ve learned that everything is related to everything else. Ants. Bees. Bats. Flowers.” For example, he said, “flowers have different strategies, and those strategies parallel human relationships in interesting ways. You can write about flowers, and your subject – whether you’re writing about love or war or the struggle for survival – is about human beings too, without ever mentioning us.” 

Peter is a thinker. He reads deeply in biology, history, theology and mythology. He speaks of connections across time. He observes the world with a rich, ancient kind of understanding.

Peter is a man of imagination, someone who takes in what he reads and what he witnesses of the world around him and translates all into poetry. 

“Everyone is walking around with these thoughts and images and emotions,” he said. “Some people create poems. Writing poetry is something that either you have or you don’t.”  

Above all, Peter is a dreamer. 

“I have pictures in my head,” he said. “I have so many emotions. And I have a terrible time sorting all these out. Poetry helps me sort out what I’m feeling. Through writing poetry, I’ve been able to better understand the Buddha. Darwin. What other people say and feel. I meditate and write about them. 

“I get my ideas from creation. I guess writing poetry for me is a kind of prayer.”

Peter has a wide range of readers, from the audiences at various reading events throughout the city, where people are moved to ask for copies of his poems, to those he meets at his Street Roots post at Whole Foods at Northwest Couch Street and 12th Avenue. And most especially, his friends.

“I get to jam my poems out loud to friends,” he said. 

“I want critical feedback from my readers,” he said. “That helps me make my poetry better.”

Flowers

by Peter Salzmann

The pigeon’s scintillating

violet crest

the perfectly round

and sensitive breast

were molded

not by nature

    or by God above

but by

drama

    passion

      need and love.

 

The symmetries

    and pretty colors

      and all

            the sweet scents

              of flowers

Arise from the needs

of bushes and trees

for the love

    of ants and bees

And with their love

    the ants and bees

      paint visions

            of beauty

            on the grass and trees.

Over billions

    of generations

      a thousand

            million mutations

the hungry, needy

    little insects

      for intricacy and

            delicate odor select

a beauty we can share

    a beauty that we can see

      a message

            from half a billion

            years away

that they are

just the same

as we.


Street Roots is an award-winning, nonprofit, weekly newspaper focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. Our newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity.  Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
© 2019 Street Roots. All rights reserved.  | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657, ext. 404.
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