tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post1333302162913092248..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Kafka's Burrow, Hitler and Bunker MentalityUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-89048905219889598722012-10-01T15:09:58.668-07:002012-10-01T15:09:58.668-07:00Devil's Tower
place of great power
where a gr...Devil's Tower<br /><br />place of great power<br />where a great burrowing<br />continues to aerate<br />the Great Plains.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-72635564266611759392012-10-01T15:03:30.754-07:002012-10-01T15:03:30.754-07:00Fuehrer's Bunker
had everything
all
others ...Fuehrer's Bunker<br /><br />had everything <br />all <br />others wanted<br />even a dog<br />named Blondi<br /><br />minus-plus what it took <br />to get it furnished<br /><br />hunkered down there<br />just like any other old<br />Hausmeister <br /> in charge<br />of all the coming and goings<br />securing<br />civilization's <br />final notice.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-27403124460130678042012-10-01T14:43:05.908-07:002012-10-01T14:43:05.908-07:00Oh, Blondi
I am human, after all
as modern Caesar...Oh, Blondi<br /><br />I am human, after all<br />as modern Caesar<br />ruling the Western World<br />factory<br />by factory<br /><br />with you<br />domesticated dog<br />I play<br />the wild <br />card<br />to all those<br />peasants <br />still<br />afraid <br />wild wild wild wild wolves.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-46015462041292157712012-10-01T14:01:33.132-07:002012-10-01T14:01:33.132-07:00"bold curiosity for the adventure ahead"..."bold curiosity for the adventure ahead" (Dr. Strangelove)<br /><br />I married you<br />Mr. Kafka<br />when you were still batchin' it<br />slapping your fore<br />head<br /><br />and now your bones<br />spell out trouble<br />for the rest of time.<br /><br />One cannot quite walk<br />to the next village<br />ponder the Seven Wonders<br /><br />without becomming<br />a little claustophobic<br />at the window<br />seeing your eyes<br />exactly <br />like my mother's<br />chasing and swallowing<br /><br />the tales you left me<br />widow of an insect empire<br />my duty to constantly<br />look under the roots<br />to check if you've been fed<br />or still so hungry<br />so nakedly married.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-26102774833226049652012-10-01T13:33:06.828-07:002012-10-01T13:33:06.828-07:00The classic statement on bunker logic<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8NQficzZg&feature=related" rel="nofollow">The classic statement on bunker logic</a>TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-64810073435161370862012-10-01T13:02:27.658-07:002012-10-01T13:02:27.658-07:00My Grandparents
Dumb fucks
hid in the bunker
for ...My Grandparents<br /><br />Dumb fucks<br />hid in the bunker<br />for the last time<br />in August, 1944<br />by their house<br />across from a church<br />in a small town<br />at the foot of the alps<br />in Bavaria--<br /><br />like everyone else<br />their deaths<br />make them nobody special<br />just dumb<br />in their dumb bodies<br />and me<br />their humble servant<br />who cannot seem to find them<br />blind and deaf to their calls.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-37983226583635488632012-10-01T12:43:39.540-07:002012-10-01T12:43:39.540-07:00Construction of Western Tumuli
Grand idea
to be s...Construction of Western Tumuli<br /><br />Grand idea<br />to be safe <br />the living grave<br />magic trick<br />to not really be dead<br />under there<br />like a potato<br />a Pharaoh.<br /><br /><br />When the time is right<br />or not quite right<br />they'll blast apart the ground<br />dig you up<br />find or not find you whole<br />put you in the cart<br />in the sack<br />and sell you to history<br />to those waiting, hungry<br />for panicked stories<br /> like teachers<br />their walks wolfish<br />the way they walk<br />wolves gone<br />to Mr. Kafka's pack<br />or to Mr. Hitler's<br />maybe<br />to Ms. Farah Fawcett's<br /><br />exposed, more <br />than deformed, inedible.<br />A junkie<br />safe in death, finally,<br />still alive: do not choose the tomb. It is a waste of time? <br />It is <br /><br />the place of dark artistry<br />caving-in caving-in <br /> <br />great unstoppable ideas<br />sprouted like jungles ancient unthinkable<br />modern<br />ghost dance<br />without Mr. Wovoka's <br />kind spirit.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-65083908021531320732012-10-01T12:42:26.963-07:002012-10-01T12:42:26.963-07:00The Inner Mole never tires of burrowing, until the...The Inner Mole never tires of burrowing, until the end -- thinking of Philby, Blunt, McLean et al. The roof may cave in at any time, but once begun, the burrowing project must be carried on. Kafka's reminder that an exit strategy is essential would not be lost on any burrowing creature. The mole, the badger -- once at Devil's Tower I watched a prairie dog village in action, with hundreds of holes scattered all about, and the animals popping up and then down again all about that large field; it was evident there was an underground tunnel system with interconnected corridors. The VC and NVA had such systems, as of course did Osama and Gaddafi.<br /><br />A few weeks' study of bunkers round the world made it clear that tunneling and burrowing is instinctive behavior in many species.<br /><br />There is insane dark comedy in the story of the last days in the Führer Bunker, a microcosm of human denial at its highest level of intensity, with a good dose of sheer ennui mixed in: the community entertainment consisting of Hitler's endless after-dinner monologues, which often went on til dawn, while among the obedient yet exhausted audience of secretaries, all known forms of yawn-suppression were employed.<br /><br />The Kafka tale, of which the ending has been lost, is a masterpiece.<br /><br />Some others to be found here: <br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/franz-kafka-absent-minded-window-gazing.html" rel="nofollow">Franz Kafka: Absent-minded Window-gazing (Three Meditations)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/franz-kafka-bachelors-ill-luck.html" rel="nofollow">Franz Kafka: Bachelor's Ill Luck</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/franz-kafka-before-law.html" rel="nofollow">Franz Kafka: Before the Law</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/franz-kafka-edward-s-curtis-divestment.html" rel="nofollow">Franz Kafka / Edward S. Curtis: Divestment (The Wish to Be a Red Indian)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/franz-kafka-excursion-into-mountains.html" rel="nofollow">Franz Kafka: Excursion into the Mountains</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/franz-kafka-resolutions.html" rel="nofollow">Franz Kafka: Resolutions</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/franz-kafka-great-wall-of-china.html" rel="nofollow">Franz Kafka: The Great Wall of China</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/franz-kafka-next-village.html" rel="nofollow">Franz Kafka: The Next Village</a><br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/franz-kafka-up-in-gallery.html" rel="nofollow">Franz Kafka: Up in the Gallery</a>TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-34422483159431790732012-10-01T11:09:35.584-07:002012-10-01T11:09:35.584-07:00It always gives me the shivers to encounter those ...It always gives me the shivers to encounter those occasional phrases in Benjamin so sharp with that dark prescience they hurt. He seems to have been onstitutionally unable to burrow himself away.<br /><br />That mole voice: breathless, a little priggish, switching between a pride in small things and a visceral fear. Franz is undoubtedly taking the rise a bit but that laughter of his is a good light for the dark.Mose23https://www.blogger.com/profile/01100756913131511440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-73630664150330654492012-10-01T08:29:45.992-07:002012-10-01T08:29:45.992-07:00Opening BTP, I find a simple photograph of molehil...Opening BTP, I find a simple photograph of molehills, and I laugh . . . and on a Monday morning in these times a good chuckle is much appreciated. Then, that mole-y face with a nose so human, peering out, blinded by the light, vulnerable, all but vision-less; a hard-working but pitiable creature, striving in darkness—and something changes. <br /><br />The pictures and text are stark evidence that there is no bunker, be it mental or re-barred concrete, in which to hide. Life, or its opposite, always finds us.Hazenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13417573435195561519noreply@blogger.com