Peter Krok stands at the podium in the main area of the Manayunk Art Center for a Sunday reading. The program presents a roster of poets, writers and essayists. He has command of his audience and exudes an air of certainty that he is comfortable with his calling; to bring poetry and prose to the community and beyond, and especially to enlighten everyone to the joys of the written word. His enthusiasm electrifies the air, and the audience is on the edge of their seats awaiting the readers. Krok makes the introductions and there is a sensation that each one of the authors is his friend, and indeed that’s how most come to view him.

Krok learned that his first book of poetry, Looking for an Eye, Foot Hills Publishing, 2008, was accepted for publication five days before his sixtieth birthday. It was a wonderful birthday present and long overdue for a poet of such high quality and talent. As stated in a review by Michael Harrington in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sunday, March 16, 2008, “Krok’s poems of madwomen on the corner, youthful road trips, bocce players, rec centers, and a childhood classmate killed in a fire are suffused with a haunted nostalgia for working-class Philadelphia.”

Perhaps the success of his book came later in life because he has given so much of himself to the greater community over many years.

“I want to celebrate poetry as a living tradition,” Krok will tell you or anyone who demonstrates an interest. He lives and breathes words. For sixteen years he has presented a series of spoken-word events at the Manayunk Art Center known affectionately as the MAC.

A biannual publication, the Schuylkill Valley Journal of the Arts (SVJ)is an outgrowth of the MAC and once again Krok is its driving force along with a core group of writers and editors. He is Editor-in-Chief of the literary journal.

The MAC is an art center as well, but when it comes to the contemporary wordsmiths, locally and from afar, Krok’s imprint is there. His work is a true labor of love.

“I want to make the MAC a kind of salon for the arts, a meeting place where writers and artists can meet and discuss their work, listen and view the work of others,” says Krok.

He has a theme; ONLY CONNECT. That is his theme for the MAC and his theme in life, adopted from E.M. Forrester’s epigraph in Howard’s End.  

Although Krok became Humanities Director of the MAC in 1990, it was a deceptive title. He has gone beyond the expected goals in his programming by presenting works of literary masters like; William Butler Yeats, Walt Whitman, Rainer Maria Rilke and Garcia Lorca. In addition, he has theme programs like Poetry and Healing, Russian Poetry, Bob Dylan, Haiku, Jim Morrison, Rimbaud, the Beats, and Senryu. Add to the mix humorous poetry, dream images, Indian Poetry and love poetry.

Krok showcases the annual Edgar Allan Poe event every January and has done so for the last ten years. He also presents a nine-month series of poetry readings.

There is enough diversity in the programming to touch most people where they live. SVJ for the Arts is another arm to reach out and enlighten those who listen. If it doesn’t sound possible for one person to coordinate the enormous number of programs mentioned, well, you just haven’t met Peter Krok. With little fan-fare the soft-spoken, laid-back man is a miracle worker. Within the pleasant, calm demeanor of Peter Krok lives a human dynamo. Krok wanted a venue to echo the muse, the larger voice. He chose themes such as love, humor and buried voices in the community

“The goal is to make the MAC a meaningful place to find and share the arts of the word and brush.” Those who know Krok, know that he has indeed succeeded in his goal. The numbers of people he has touched are too numerous to mention.

 “I’m not really a volunteer,” he said. “I like to think of myself as a person who keeps the links in their community strong and durable.” Yes, Krok is a volunteer, but the likes of which the president of IBM would be glad to have on board. He has shown an incredible amount of talent, endurance, concentration and loyalty.

Krok performs a wonderful service, not just to the community, but to the world. All combined, these local journals and readings scattered throughout the country give voice to the lesser known and highly talented authors. Combined they are a force to be reckoned with, a platform to parade excellent writers, poets and artists. They publish and perform in front of a live audience. Sometimes they are sharpening their teeth to go onward. Many continue on to bigger venues, graduating from the numerous smaller ones. Others remain in the less visible arena to provide talent and mental stimulation locally. Their work resonates in any case.

That is the managerial Krok. There is an astounding other side – Peter Krok the poet. Krok is a federal employee and grateful for the stability that comes with the job. So, his energy level is freed up to some extent to do what he loves to do – write poetry. His first poem was published in a journal in the early 1970’s called the Archer and published in many other journals since. Krok has written poetry since his early twenties. A turning point in his life occurred when he attended graduate school at Ohio University during the Vietnam War.

Krok went to visit at Kent State and happened to witness the infamous day, May 4, 1970, when the National Guard was called to the campus to quell a protest of the war. The Guards shot tear gas into the group and shots rang out leaving several students dead.

“This incident encouraged me to write my signature poem, The Misfit Generation,” he said. Here are some stanzas:

Some found their gurus, others their profession

Krok’s poetry is touching, emotional, yet it occurs with the use of everyday language. Much of his poetry is based in Philadelphia using scenes, landmarks and plain-speak. In his work, you find images of streets and even the Wyndham Hotel. It is accessible poetry, if you will. He exposes his feelings without regard to presenting a pumped up image of himself. What you hear is what you get. Some of the beauty in Krok’s poetry is that he makes himself vulnerable, sometimes painfully, sometimes hauntingly lonely.

“I am like a camera in my work,” he says. “I see the world as though outside of myself. Sometimes I even take the identity of some other form like a cat as in his poem,

The Alley Cat:

I prowl the alleys,
          driveway,
          yet unlike the squirrel
you don’t find me
           leaping
into cans.
          I prefer to slip by
shy, unnoticeably.
          My eyes
Always on the move,
          or a move
          always ready…

Many poets influenced Krok. Those outstanding are, T.S. Eliot, Stanley Kunitz, William Butler Yates. He is inspired by T.S. Eliot’s The Four Quartets. Also, poetic work that is Objective Corelative such as Stanley Kunitz, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton – all who have had their impact on him. Krok enjoys reading poetry that is psychological or interior. He wants to achieve what Rilke has done by reaching for the stars – looking for angels. What is touching to him is Petrarch’s A Love Poem to Laura – a structured sonnet about unrequited love. Petrarch ennobled Laura yet, never spoke to her. He only saw her three times in his entire life, but wrote a masterful love poem.

When Krok writes he takes something from himself that he hopes works for others. He wants people to hear an echo when the book is closed. Each poem, he says, has its own organic form. When he rides the El or is driving a car he finds ideas and words filtering through his mind. He mines his own thoughts, always reaching for more is what he strives for. There is an underlying spiritual quality in Krok’s work even when he used everyday images.

Krok’s poem, HOOPS, is an example of how he takes everyday events or objects and endows them with deep emotional feeling.

Another Monday morning,
Riders take the El downtown,
Under the El tracks
Youth play hoops
Beneath a cut-out crate.

At 61^st and Market,
a child with a red cap
dribbles, weaves, spins,
flicks his palms,
arcs a rainbow.

Boy and ball remind you:
in offices & bars,
on corners & pages,
so many hope
to score.

Several of the poems quoted are included in Krok’s book of poetry, Looking for an Eye. The book was met with high praise.  

Michael Harrington of the Philadelphia Inquirer also said, “His work has a sharp awareness of the weariness of everyday life, as in “Second Shift”: “You want to break/the dull decline of days slipping/through the stubborn hole in life/but your knuckles aren’t strong enough”

Rhina P. Espaillat said: “…Peter Krok has put together a collection of poems that cannot fail to communicate at the deepest human level, one that will stay with the reader long after the reading.”

Krok was a lonely child who found a wonderful retreat in books. “Books were a place I went to much more so than television. I was not interested in writing books, but I was interested in expressing myself and asking myself who I was.”

He was born in West Berlin, Germany, the only child of a war bride. Krok’s dad was a soldier stationed in Berlin where he met his mother. In the summer of 1948, they all came to the United States in the Berlin airlift. After graduating Roman Catholic High in 1965, he attended and graduated LaSalle College in 1969 then attended Ohio University at Athens on a History fellowship. Krok is married for thirty-three years and has three children. This past August he became a grandfather.

Poetry had great appeal for him from an early age. “I had been attending poetry readings so it became natural to participate. Ultimately, the poet wants to be heard. I think I write to share experiences with others.”

Krok looks thoughtful and serious as he says, “There are so many calories in life and they should be used wisely and enjoyed,” He says. “People are a more important part of the process. I’d rather have a good conversation than watch TV sports. That’s what’s so great about the MAC. The dialogue is always there.”

Krok grew up in Fairmount, a neighborhood near the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He used to take walks along the East River Drive. He especially recalls Lemon Hill along the Drive where he took many a date. “I have been called the “red brick poet” because of my roots and connections to the red brick of Philadelphia.

And what does the future hold? “My own writing plans are to continue to work and develop my craft as well as developing further the readings at the MAC as well as the publication; Schuylkill Valley Journal. So one might say I have three objectives; writing, coordinating readings and maintain and promote a literary journal.” Krok also mentioned, “I wish my book of poetry resonates with an interested audience. It is a spiritual search.” Peter Krok has mastered all items on his wish list and achieved what he set out to do.