My Golem

Günter Kunert has remained the poet of opposition and contradiction. Even after the fall of the Wall and the abating of the political storm, he continues, amicably but persistently, to point out the losses inflicted by progress. Kunert was born at the end of the Weimar Republic, was raised in a fascist state, and grew out of East German socialism so swiftly that he abandoned it before its demise. He observes that, for all of the superficial changes that have taken place in society, familiar evils continue to appear, albeit cloaked in new disguises. In his short history, man has created a Golem that has become more powerful than man himself.

With his new poems, Kunert tries to pin down this dark facet of civilization that everyone recognizes but no one acknowledges. That he appears neither as prophet nor sectarian in the attempt may be credited to his sense of irony, the only weapon to survive all ideologies intact.