Marbrook, Djelloul

Far From Algiers: Poems

ISBN: 9780873389877
Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2008. First Edition. Softcover. Signed & dated by Djelloul Marbrook. “I don’t know, djinn, how much you remember / but I know you measure the Sahara’s sands, / wear stars on your fingers / and remember that once on Third Avenue / an old man freed you and asked nothing. / You studied him a long time before you left / to make sure he understood the consequences. / He did. And then he left, / and somewhere a child was born / wearing them on his face. / How do their flutes in the Tuareg night / summon us to the secrets of the djinn, / and how does the sexual electric of stars / wake us to the meanness of our wishes? / I think hearing is easier than seeing them / thanks to our brushes with the vast. / Abhor the misshappenness of words / and make this gnosis your heart: / everything is a facet of the same jewel.”--Djelloul Marbrook, “The Flutes of the Djinn,” pg. 10. Djelloul Marbrook (1934-2024) was an American-Algerian poet, writer, and photographer best known for works like: Brushstrokes and Glances: Poems (2010); Saraceno (2012); Riding Thermals to Winter Grounds (2017); Nothing True Has a Name (2017); Songs in the O of Not (2019); The Loneliness of Shap (2019) among many other great works! Offered today is the 2008, inaugural collection of poetry Far From Algiers. Winner of the 2007 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize, this is a collection that is steeped in nostalgia, an abstract sense of image, and visceral pathos. From the judge of the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize on the back cover: “Sometimes the poems seem utterly symbolic, surreal; they are philosophical, historical, psychological, political, and spiritual. The genius is in the many ways these poems can be read. I kept being rewarded by new awarenesses of the poet’s intentions, by the breadth and scope of the manuscript. As I read, I felt more and more that it was impossible that this was a first book. It seemed the writer knew exactly what to say, and, more importantly, exactly what to leave out.” An incredible Marbrook collection that is becoming exceedingly rare. From the collection of Dan Rzicznek (b. 1979), an esteemed Ohio poet & professor at Bowling Green State University. Rzicznek has hand-written his ownership signature ("F. Daniel Rzicznek") in black ink at upper left margin of blank front paste-down; signed and dated "10-23-08" at title page in thin blue ink by Djelloul Marbrook. Trade-format softcover original. First edition though not explicated as such at copyright page, first printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. In very fine condition with minor wear to fine edges, and light smudging/scratching at front and back cover. Interior pristine. Very Fine. [Item #9268]

Price: $35.00 save 10% $31.50