Peter Kane Dufault


Peter Kane Dufault (1923 – 2013) grew up in Westchester County, N.Y., and studied at Harvard. He graduated in 1947 and the first of his books of verse was published in 1954. He was variously employed as tree-surgeon, journalist, teacher, house-painter, pollster and, in 1968, he was a candidate for US Congress, running on the Liberal Party’s anti-Vietnam war platform; he was known locally as a fiddler, banjo-player and dance-caller. Poems have appeared in many magazines, including the New Yorker and London Magazine, and anthologies, including the 1996 Norton Anthology. Peter was well known for his live performances and was twice Visiting Poet at the Cheltenham Festival. A profile of Peter by Brad Leithauser can be read on the The New Yorker here.