Published: April 23, 2010
Spend Some Time With Djelloul Marbook Tonight At Boughton Place Theater
Hear Great Words While You Do Great Things. Tommorow Friday Night www.readforfood.com
We all identify with certain poets. In fact, it's probably more accurate to say we identify with their poetry. But, this recognition might not be an immediate and seamless response. More often than not even if you've heard a particular poet or poem multiple times, and enjoyed the experience, you may have just accepted the words verbatim.
Then one day, you read a poem, (maybe one that's a favorite,) a sort of old friend, and it blossoms with a completely different color than the hue you had previously experienced. You could be having lunch, a PB J in one hand and Shakespeare's Sonnets in the other, when new meanings reveal themselves for the first time.
Djelloul Marbrook
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When that happens (and it will happen) it's like finding out that: not only did your spouse play the accordion in high school, but, that they still play, as you watch your them retrieve the instrument from a trunk in the attic, and treat you to a solo performance of the loveliest version of "Irish Eyes" you've ever heard.
The first time that I heard Djelloul Marbrook, I immediately identified with him and his poetry. Not only is his work rich, emotional, and intelligent, it is also historical. It reminds us, for one, that terrorism isn't a new concept. But, I personally, find his interesting because of its Algerian influence-where much of it is set. My grandfather was born in Egypt, spoke Arabic fluently and frequently talked about his experiences there. My grandmother was born in France. She would tell me stories of the colonial Algerian soldiers in the French army marching through her little village on the border Germany on the way to fight on the Front.
Djelloul Marbrook's book of poems, Far from Algiers (Kent State University Press, 2008) won the 2007 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize and has been reviewed by Prairie Schooner, Literal Latté, Rattle, The Linchpin, and Boxcar Poetry. A second book, Brushstrokes and Glances, poems about paintings and painters, is forthcoming from Deerbrook Editions. Recent poems have been accepted or published by American Poetry Review, Barrow Street, Oberon, Hot Metal Bridge, Reed, The Same, The Ledge, Poets Against the War, Poemeleon, Istanbul Literary Review, Arabesques Literary and Cultural Journal, Damazine, and Attic.
Ten of his poems and comments about writing poetry may be heard online at From The Fishouse, An Audio Archive of Emerging Poets. His story, "Artists' Hill," adapted from an unpublished novel, won the Literal Latté first prize in fiction in 2008. His novella, Alice Miller's Room, was published by Online Originals (London), a pioneer e-book publisher and the first to have a Booker nominee. His fiction has also been published by Potomac Review (Maryland), Prima Materia (New York), and Breakfast All Day (UK). He worked for many years as a reporter and editor for newspapers including the Providence Journal, Elmira Star-Gazette, Baltimore Sun, Winston-Salem Journal, Washington Star, and others. He lives in New York's mid-Hudson Valley with his wife Marilyn.
Del is an gifted reader as well as writer. Join Read for Food, at Boughton Place Theater, 150 Kisor Road, Highland, NY, 7 PM Friday, April 23, 2010. Hear Great Words While You Do Great Things. Support Read for Food Tommorow Night www.readforfood.com
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