Kakalak 2007 Poetry Judge

Peter Meinke

The Contracted World (2006) is Peter Meinke’s 14th book of poems, and 7th in the prestigious Pitt Poetry Series, which includes Zinc Fingers (2001), Scars (1996), and Liquid Paper (1991). His poetry has received many awards, including two NEA Fellowships and three prizes from the Poetry Society of America.

His book of short stories, The Piano Tuner, won the 1986 Flannery O’Connor Award. Another collection, Unheard Music, will be published soon, along with his book on reading and writing poems, The Shape of Poetry.

He directed the Writing Workshop at Eckerd College for many years, and has often been writer-in-residence at other colleges and universities; from 2003 through 2005 he held the Darden Chair in Creative Writing at Old Dominion University.

His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, and dozens of other magazines. He and his wife, the artist Jeanne Clark, have lived in St. Petersburg since 1966.