The last days of Kafka
During his final illness the writer Kakfa,
suffering from tuberculosis of the larynx,
could hardly speak and communicated
by scribbling notes on slips of paper
Incubates in the dark.
Comes in from nowhere. Unfree.
by now we have come a long way
from the garden when we -
Shreds diaries and calendars.
Cauterizes memory.
the phantoms grow
beneath the hand which writes -
Sweats on the skin.
Chokes in the throat.
I was to have gone
to the Baltic with her once -
Disrupts sleep with nightmare.
Craters reason.
put your hand on my forehead
to give me courage -
You weep like a child when the castle slides
Under the waves.
a lake doesn’t flow into anything,
you know -
There is nothing more to think. You scribble
Notes. Dribble at the brink.
how wonderful that is, isn’t it?
The lilac - dying, drinks.
just been published by Routledge Falmer.
Page(s) 21
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