Peter Porter 1929-2010

The poet Peter Porter, born in Australia but resident in England for much of his life, has died at the age of 81.

There are obituaries in The Telegraph and The Guardian - which also has a recent interview by Sarah Crown

"It's behoven upon you to do the best you can with the abilities you have," [Porter] says. "You honour the existence of everything else by doing so. I know I can't write novels; I've tried. I know I can't write plays. I can write criticism, and gabble away on the radio, but the only thing I can really do with any degree of finesse is write poetry. So I do it."

A critical appreciation of Porter's work and some recordings of him reading can be found at the Poetry Archive.