"For life and death of a poet" is a poetry volume featuring 40 poems on a wide variety of subjects, mostly related to the places and matters associated with Ireland, an author whereabouts. The Emerald Isle and its myths, legends, and troublesome history inspired Marcin to look for answers to difficult and not obvious questions, but also to guide the reader toward the inward illumination.
About the Author: Marcin Malek (born 24 February 1975, in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish poet, writer, playwright, and journalist. Published mainly in the quarterlies: "Fronda", "Tygiel Kultury", "Akcent" and monthlies: "Nowe Panstwo", "Stosunki Miedzynarodowe", "Opcja na prawo". Winner of the annual award of "Poetry&Paratheatre" journal (category: poem of the Year) for year 2012, (work: "Bieg - Czyli list do wspólczesnych"/"Run - a letter to the present"). Since 2006 lives in Dublin, Ireland. In recent years Malek devoted himself mainly to a poetry. As he says: he "finally found a place where he belongs, and all that he owns, is the power of his words, and a momentous awareness of consequences". He is of the opinion, that "poetry is like a spurt; elusive, and not enough to say - inexplicable". In his writing "poetry is the way into the unknown is still asks questions and never hears correct answers. And so - to be a poet is no more than wander around and ask every encountered soul for directions." In his opinion, poetry is "a storage of historical curiosities, in which we keep rarely used words, and poets are workers who use these words as the raw material. The snag is that they work blindly, because with such material you can never be sure, and it is difficult to predict what falls out of the assembly line." In his opinions of other poets he expresses himself very carefully saying that they live "somewhere out there, where we mere mortals do not have access - on the other side, in the midst of spells, myths and legends." He explains that "poets have something in common with the unfortunate Icarus, whose flight and fall are widespread symbols of human thoughtful pursuit of unattainable objectives against the natural order of the world. We want to see them as those who are in pursuit of reality, those fully aware of their tremendous responsibility, always faithful to an supreme idea, entering boldly where none seemingly normal would dare to enter - mainly because our "me" bothers us more than anything else. Poet (who lives inside us) has thousands of them - continues in perpetual flight to fall and to rise, and so it goes, he passes from one dimension to another becoming his own multiplication. Sometimes Malek calls himself an invented character, once he admitted that he associates with the ghosts, and that "under the pressure of certain words", he simply "does not know how to be himself."