Welcome to the Works of Peter Ludwin
A prize-winning poet for both individual poems and a full collection, Peter Ludwin is the author of four books, including his most recent, An Altar of Tides, which won the 2024 Trail to Table Editors’ Award in Poetry. Having traveled extensively at home and abroad, he’s particularly drawn to themes of history, culture, environment and being alive in the moment. He also is currently working on a memoir.
Feedback from Readers
"An excellent, coherent collection. Impressive in an understated but ‘true’ way. Completely credible and moving, in fact and voice, without any histrionics or arm-waving. And all the more powerful for that.
"Kudos to Peter for making a sad chapter in the history of the West live again. And encouraging us to think about it for ourselves."
"Peter Ludwin is a local treasure. He establishes a trust and commitment to the people and places these poems visit. His poems establish a respectful perspective, a careful witness which honors his subjects. These are no zoo-key travelogues. I think it was Stafford who said, 'A good poem should change our lives.' For me, these poems do that."
"Brilliantly narrated with sombre undertones that tugged at my heart strings, calling upon my compassionate side. I discovered myself yearning to "belong", to gain a better understanding of the history behind it all amidst a strong desire to shed personal ignorance in the spirit of fellowship.
"The poet gives the wind, the earth and the sky their own voice that speaks to his readers in ways only inhuman creations of nature can, sharing wisdom in its purest form through a sense of spiritual enlightenment."
"Experiencing Ludwin's poems is like wind lush with salt, with stories pried from kelp, stories that reflect the self and open us like shells. This is truly a book to savor."
Books by Peter Ludwin
A Guest in All Your Houses is the author’s paean to the land, history and cultural crosscurrents of the American Southwest, with an additional nod to the Great Plains.
Rumors of Fallible Gods reflects perceptions and experiences in various countries, especially Mexico, Peru, Greece and Tibet.
Gone to Gold Mountain features extensive use of the persona poem format to explore the long suppressed 1887 massacre of over thirty Chinese gold miners by outlaws in Oregon’s Hells Canyon.
An Altar of Tides portrays environmental/spiritual aspects of the Pacific Northwest along with poems that address the rich but often frustrating legacy of the author’s father.
