Peter Markus
Author of Bob, or Man on Boat
About the Author
Peter Markus was born and raised and has lived most of his life in Michigan. The author of several books of fiction, among them We Make Mud and The Fish and the Not Fish, this is his first book of poems.
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- Works
- 13
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 99
- Popularity
- #191,538
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 3
- ISBNs
- 19
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- 1
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- 1
Markus is a Michigander, which I did not realize until I got the book home. Another realization is that Wayne State University near Detroit is also a publisher of many fine books by Michigan authors. I bookmarked the page for a further look when I want to find more poetry by Michigan authors.
The poems are mainly centered around the death of Markus' father. Birds, the St. Clair River, the old steel mill, boats and other subjects, important to his father when he was alive, and to the author, figure prominently in many of the poems. Markus spent a lot of time taking care of his father and helping his mother at the end of his father's life and this is reflected in many of the poems.
I am including here, a link to the Kenyon Review's page where two of the poems from this collection are available for reading, I returned the book to the library before I reviewed the book. These poems are, however, two of many that I really liked:
https://kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2020-septoct/selections/peter-markus-76...
Many of the poems moved me and despite most of the poems being about grief and loss, it never seemed like too much. Reading Markus' poetry brought up a lot of memories of my mother's last days and the grief and guilt I felt afterward.
I look forward to more poetry by Peter Markus after this first published volume.… (more)