Kyle, Leicester



Jack Ross: Leicester in Millerton

Leicester Kyle
(1937-2006)

The Rev. Leicester Kyle was born in Christchurch, where he trained as an apprentice at the Botanical Gardens before, in his twenties, entering the Anglican church. He took early retirement in 1995, shortly before the death of his first wife Miriel from cancer. He spent the last seven years of his life living in the tiny hamlet of Millerton, on the west coast of the South Island, before his own untimely death from cancer at the age of 69.

Having specialised in fiction and short stories in middle life, he turned to poetry in his fifties, and compiled a large body of work of high quality, equally informed by his strong interests in ecology and poetics.

A bibliography of his writing, published and unpublished, can be found here.

Quote:

“Paradise is immanent in this life and does not need to be searched for anywhere else. Our acceptance of our place in a world which is larger than ourselves and has no concern for our well-being … leads to small epiphanic moments of grace.”
– Hamish Dewe, Poetry New Zealand.


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Brand design: Lisa Baudry

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