(1970, 1972) is a slim, but effective, 27 page pamphlet from the African and Afro-American Research Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. The pamphlet (Occasional Publications #2) contains nine poems and an authorial commentary in Brutus's handwriting. The poems are the ‘survivors' of a group written in Algiers, where Brutus was attending the Pan-African Cultural Festival. Only three of the nine poems (“And I am driftwood”, “In the sunlight” and “Only in the Casbah”) survive this publication to appear in
A Simple Lust.
The poetry begins with Brutus's free verse meditation on exile and solitude, “And I am driftwood”. The poem opens with an enlarged sense of place/space – from the individual to a nation to a sea – encompassed by a simple
860 words
Citation: McLuckie, Craig. "Poems from Algiers". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 April 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12230, accessed 16 April 2024.]
