Book excerpt: American Heartland flows from the Midwestern childhood of the author who learned the values of loyalty, bravery, and honesty with love for God and country. LTC Peterson's poetry is a unique portrayal of those values, as a substantive down to earth word painting, but with a transcending perspective, yet substantive down to earth painting with words everyone can unequalled by modern poets. His down to earth prose combined with his acumen, wit, and wisdom is comparable to Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanac. Like Longfellow he portrays a nostalgic past and like Poe, Roy's mystic moments in Fall Fantasy are seductive. Two sections of humor, however, set him apart as a poet for the ages.