Peter Kilgore obviously loved Maine, from our coastal islands to the Allagash River in the north woods. Quarry, The Collected Poems of Peter Kilgore, really capture his Maine – and my Maine too.
I really must thank North Country Press for publishing this comprehensive group of poems that Peter wrote throughout his lifetime, most of which was spent in Falmouth and Portland. Steve Luttrell, in a paragraph on the back cover, explains it well:
“Peter Kilgore was a poet of place. His work from his early days showed an eye for the beauty around him.”
I especially enjoyed Peter’s poems about birds and wild animals including moose, and his poems about the Allagash, one of my favorite places in Maine. And his poems set on the islands off Portland, reminded me of the many wonderful experiences Linda and I enjoyed on Peaks Island.
Bruce Holsapple and Dana Wilde wrote a wonderful introduction to the book including a detailed history of Peter who moved to Washington state and suffered severe depression, taking his own life at the age of 52. As Bruce and Dana write, “Some 25 years later, he continues to be missed, but the poetry speaks as richly as ever.”
Indeed it does.