Marie Marshall

words © Marie Marshall
image © Membranes of Marrakesh

I often say that the strangest place I have ever ‘published’ a poem has to be the time one was etched into an African drum, which is now at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The poem was called ‘Djembe’; I wrote it several years ago, and that’s it above. The image I have used to accompany it shows the raw, waiting bodywork of drums made in the same workshop as ‘mine’ was. If you click on the image you will be taken to a fundraising site for the workshop’s new project. They hope to give away 100 drums at the Burning Man festival in Nevada this year. Have a read through their promotion and watch the video. If you can help this celebration of giving please do, even if it is only with good vibes and good wishes. Thank you.

By the way, if you happen to be in Nevada between August 25th and September 1st this year, then go and experience the Burning Man. If you visit the Membranes’ stall in the Souk, then the patter with which they address you may well have been written by… me! Find out how the young Berber woman, Yasmine, got the better of a mighty desert djinn!

M.