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Sesame
Poems
by Jack Marshall
Winner,
PEN Center West Literary Award for Poetry
Finalist,
National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry"Marshall’s
circuitous lines and meticulously selected words hit
their target dead center while readers are still caught
up in the atmosphere he so beautifully paints. . . .
Many of these pieces were inspired by the Gulf War,
but unlike other recent poetry on the subject, these
draw upon Marshall’s Muslim/Jewish heritage." -
Publishers Weekly"Marshall
is a master image maker and an original voice at a time
when many American poets are doing imitations of each
other." - ChoiceRemarkable
for language that is both lush and precise, Marshall’s
imagistic narrative poetry seeks to reconcile family,
love, loss, and memory in a collection that continues
his exploration of the surfaces and depths of his Arabic/Jewish
heritage.In
Sesame, Marshall turns his critically-acclaimed mastery
of language and metaphor to the mature task of reflection,
making peace with the past, and a tenuous, cautionary
accord with the present. Poems exploring his Arabic/Jewish
heritage are especially timely considering current global
conflicts and struggles on the multicultural homefront.
The title poem, an elegy to his Arabic mother, was awarded
a Pushcart Prize. But Marshall’s work does more than
portray the imagery of his colorful background; the
rhythms and use of language echo with hints of the Cabala,
and the soaring chants of the Sufi poets.Other
poems deal with Marshall’s early experiences working
in a steel mill in the south and a canning factory in
the mid-west; elegies for poets George Oppen, Darrel
Gray, and Joseph Ceravolo; and poems inspired by the
work of Anton Webern and George Trakl. But whatever
the subject matter, these poems are charged with Marshall’s
compassion for the dispossessed, the outsiders of our
world. Characterized by a precision of image and perception,
and a taut music articulated in lean, tensile lines
that are open to multiple meanings and possibilities,
Marshall addresses some of the urgent issues of our
time in candid, painterly poetry.
A critically acclaimed poet, Jack Marshall has received a PEN Center USA West Award, two Bay Area Book Reviewers' Awards, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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