Deborah Petersen is from Bluffton, Indiana and is president of the Poetry Society of Indiana. She says: "What first influenced me as a poet, were the prayers of my childhood. Then, I became intoxicated by the complexity and cadence of William Shakespeare’s works. The most recent years have been influenced by the writings of the Persian Poet and Sufi Mystic, Rumi, and by the Japanese Haiku Master, Basho. And, as a source of inspiration, I study the many languages of the Divine, the tongues of transcendence. As artists, I believe, we are mere conduits. When I am in the moment of being a conduit, I find myself in an omniscience, a moment of vastness and grace, a connection to a universal wisdom and discerning perception.
