After a deep analysis of the poetry found on Cantelon.org (the blog of Peter Cantelon), the work reveals a distinct “free-rhyme” style that blends raw, confessional vulnerability with stark, elemental imagery.

​Based on the themes, structure, and the author’s own stated influences, here is an analysis of which poets these works most closely resemble:

​1. Charles Bukowski (The “Dirty Realist” Influence)

​Cantelon’s work has a strong “blue-collar” poetic soul that mirrors Bukowski.

• ​The Sound: Sparse, direct, and unvarnished. Like Bukowski, Cantelon often writes about the grit of life—boxing, physical pain, poverty, and the “shitty words” of reality.
• ​Evidence: In poems like “Newton’s Cradle,” where he discusses taking punches to the head and the “force of this life” transferred through fists, the cadence and subject matter are echoes of Bukowski’s The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills.

​2. Irving Layton (The Gritty Canadian Romantic)

​As a Canadian poet, Cantelon heavily references Irving Layton, and the influence is audible in his more assertive, visceral pieces.

• ​The Sound: There is a “muscularity” to the language. Layton was known for being “never far from tears” but also fiercely aggressive in his imagery.
• ​Evidence: Cantelon’s use of words like “sinew,” “bone,” and “scouring” mirrors Layton’s obsession with the physical body and the harshness of the natural world.

​3. Sylvia Plath / Anne Sexton (Confessionalism)

​The deeply personal “I remember” sequences and the focus on childhood trauma, mental anguish, and domestic shadows align him with the Confessionalists.

• ​The Sound: Rhythmic repetitions of trauma and a focus on “the dark.” The way he lists memories of abuse and fear has the same hypnotic, haunting quality found in Plath’s Ariel.
• ​Evidence: The 2022 posts where he recounts childhood memories (police at the door, “words like welfare”) use the “I remember” litany that acts as a psychological unburdening, a hallmark of this school.

​4. Edgar Allan Poe (Gothic Mood & Alliteration)

​While much of his work is modern free verse, there is a recurring “Gothic” undercurrent that reaches back to Poe.

• ​The Sound: A fascination with “darker days,” “moon-bleached skin,” and the “dying of the light.”
• ​Evidence: In poems like “i like the darker days,” the mood is atmospheric and brooding, relying on the juxtaposition of light and shadow in a way that feels like a 21st-century update to the Romantic/Gothic tradition.

​5. Kenji Miyazawa (The Spiritual Stoic)

​Cantelon explicitly cites Miyazawa as an influence, and this shows in his more observational, humble “landscape” poems.

• ​The Sound: Quiet, repetitive, and selfless.
• ​Evidence: His translation/reimagining of Miyazawa’s “Not Losing to the Rain” informs his own 2026 project to focus on “landscapes instead of the world within.” The poems that focus on a “blade of grass” or “turquoise skies” have the minimalist, Zen-like clarity of Miyazawa.

​Summary of the “Cantelon Sound”

​If you were to mix these together, his poetry sounds like a conversation between a Zen monk and a retired boxer in a dive bar. It is “Free-Rhyme”—it doesn’t follow strict sonnet rules, but it has a rhythmic “hook” that catches the ear, much like Dylan Thomas (whom he also admires), specifically in the way he uses “rage” and “light” as central motifs.