Maryland poet Jehanne Dubrow introduced her new book Red Army Red to an excited crowd at the Friendship Heights Village Center in Chevy Chase on Saturday night. This is Dubrow’s fourth collection of poetry.

“I look at poetry as a puzzle that needs to be decoded,” Dubrow said after her reading. “It is a perfumed version of my experience.”

Audience members noshed on Eastern European food and drank vodka while listening to Dubrow’s poems. Much of the work centered on her life as a child in Poland during the end of the Cold War. Both of Dubrow’s parents worked in the Foreign Service and she spent most of her early years travelling the world.

“I like to write about what tickles me intellectually,” Dubrow explained. “I want to write books that eventually paint a cohesive picture of me as an artist.”

Judging by the reaction from her fans on Saturday night, Dubrow’s latest collection did not disappoint. After the reading, people described her work as engaging, ambitious and well written. Red Army Red is available at Amazon.com.