On Kevin Pilkington's Poetry

“In clean lines and tenderly orchestrated sentences Pilkington lets the inconsequentials we mostly live among add up to a life known and accepted, and rendered into an urban lyricism that reminds of Frank O’Hara, cut with a splash of Raymond Chandler.” —Eamon Grennan

“There is a wide and magical sky over these beautifully-conceived and choreographed poems...” —Carol Muske-Dukes

“It’s thrilling to watch a poet create a world—fascinating when it turns out to be the one we live in.” —Dennis Nurkse

“Kevin Pilkington narratives of daily life are tender and melancholy, lightened with a gentle surreal humor and a steadfast affection for the people and the city he is kin to.” —Jean Valentine

Source: Pilkington, K. Where You Want To Be: New and Selected Poems. Black Lawrence Press, 2015.

These four quotes placed at the beginning of Where You Want To Be, Pilkington's book of poems in which “Long as a Quart of Milk” debuted, characterize his poetry beautifully. Grennan comments on both structure and subject when discussing Pilkington’s urban lyricism an obvious attribute of “Long as a Quart of Milk”. Muske-Dukes and Nurkse both regard the authors ability to create the world we live in through his choreographed poems. Valentine captures my own view of Pilkington in respect to the poem as she recognizes his melancholy portrait of daily life, surreal humor, and love for the city.