Zen and the Art of Poetry Maintenance

Seb Doubinsky was born in Paris and spent part of his childhood in the USA, an experience that indelibly marked him for life. He currently lives in Denmark with his wife and children. He writes fluently in both French and English and has published more than a dozen novels that blur the boundaries between literary fiction, science fiction and crime fiction, and a volume of short stories. His poetry has been published around the world to great acclaim and has been collected intat least nine stand-alone volumes. He edits the bi-lingual on-line literary magazine Le Zaporogue, publishes books under his Les Editions du Zaporogue imprint and is at work on at least one new novel.


Doubinsky is concerned with the intrusion of words into our celebration of life. His poems are often about vetting them. Because he regards words as potentially intrusive, there is a feminist element in his work. He wants to make sure they're not rapine. He wants to make sure they're not in the service of the state. But can a poet so suspicious of words write fine poetry? To address my own question I think of the tools on my workbench. A number of them will do the same job, but only one of them is perfect for the job. We could say this of any poet. But few of them start out from a recognition as Doubinsky does that noise is not technical, it's social.



Djelloul Marbrook reviewing Mothballs: Quantum Poems

in The Four Quarters Magazine