The Prowess of Immodest Emptiness: New and Select Poems

There is a rebellious spirit wandering through Peter Dugan's poems, all-American, contrary and ageless. In these pages find an heir to the decades-young urge to the untamed, unchained existence. Hurricanes may flood his home. Neighbors may try to crucify him. But choppers, chrome and rough weathered leather are his metrics, and in the aesthetics of his poetry the measure of a man is his rebellion - and the machines that transmute him from a mundane creature of societal gray to an open throttled, clutch popping engine roaring icon of the American night. Which is the shovel head, which the fourteen year old boy who suddenly knows what he wants to be? Don't ask. Just mob the curb, reader - watch him as he rides away.

George Wallace, poet

Peter Dugan's poetry hums and purrs like an angel in leather on a motorcycle. From mermaids, to Hollywood to word play and centos, Dugan's poetry is hot, irreverent and fresh. Start your engines, read Dugan, enjoy the ride.

Vicki Iorio, author

Send Me a Letter

Peter V. Dugan, born and bred on Long Island, is a poet with a cause - a rugged individualist who knows the smell of leather, grease, asphalt, beer, and B.S. Peter defies the status quo and is a spokesperson for the 99%. Walt Whitman would have been proud of him.

Patricia Carragon, author

Curator, Editor-in-Chief of Brownstone Poets, Brooklyn, NY

Journey to the Center of My Mind and Urban Haiku and More

Peter V. Dugan writes, "At fourteen, I know what I want to be," but I don't think he realized that he was destined to be a wordsmith of the highest caliber. Dugan lets us wrap our arms around him, wind catching our breath, as Whitman and he ride their Harleys. He lets us feel the agony of being, at times, "not worthy" and instructing those that wish our total capitulation to, " hang me /upside down." Peter expertly invokes biblical scenes, "feast on my body/ drink my blood," without being sacrilegious. He is sharing the intense human connection. I will, as he instructs, keep his poems in my own "private catacombs".

Tammy Nuzzo-Morgan

1st Female Suffolk County Poet Laureate 2009-2011