My friend the poet Peter Meilleur, whose nom de plume was Childe Roland, has died aged 75. He was an experimental poet with an intensely lyrical voice, whose reputation rests on his visual and sound poetry. His published work is sparse, visually beautiful, the work for voice and performance immense.
Peter was born in Surrey, where his father, Noel Meilleur, a French-Canadian serviceman stationed in Britain, had met and married Kathleen Goodwin; the family sailed to Canada before the end of the second world war. Peter was brought up in Quebec and went to a French-speaking school before studying at Carleton University in Ottawa. He began writing while at university, and later got a job working for the Canadian government.
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