review of
Erich Kastner's Let's Face It
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - January 6, 2012

1st & foremost, I'm certainly going to like this poetry b/c its author was a German pacifist living in Germany before, during, & after the nazi era. His books were burned in 1933 & he was actually there to see it happen. I don't envy him that. Reading his poetry, it's particularly easy to understand why the nazis hated him so much: he pays attn to & comments on aspects of German society that the nazis, in their insane promotion of nationalist megalomania, wdn't have wanted pointed out.

Kästner has been called a "Functional Poet". In a footnote to the author's "Instead of an Introduction", it's explained by the bk's editor that:

"The 'Functional Poets' were the German forerunners of our own [ie: Britain's] 'Pylon Poets'; they were popular, political poets - mostly left-wing satirists - and were opposed to modernist poetry for much the same reasons as the English poets of the 'thirties. Apart from Kästner himself, the main Functional Poets were Brecht (in his middle period), Ringelnatz, Walter Mehring, Klabund, Tucholsky, Mascha Kaléko, and Alfred Kerr."

If I had been a writer during that time, perhaps I wd've been a 'Functional Poet' too - but I'm a writer now (ie: 1966-2012, etc) & my formal philosophies are considerably more diverse & experimental. As such, much of this poetry is of little formal interest to me - wch is basically beside the point. I'm perhaps most reminded of the poetry of Kenneth Patchen (minus the visual imagination) & my friend The Dirty Poet (see my review of his poetry bk here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11160980-emergency-room-wrestling ). Both are droll, both discuss serious issues w/ some much needed humor.

What is to the point is that, in very clear language, Kästner is anti-war. In his "Preface to this selection" he explains why this is the 1st edition of his poetry in English: "I could not send them to England, for there was a war on. But in Germany too they were not allowed to go to school and take their examinations because I was an 'enemy of the state'. So the poems did not appear in any language, needed no language-teacher, and had twelve years off from school. (Now I've gone and got myself mixed up in a metaphor again!)" & in the preface to his 1st bk of poems (excerpted from here), Kästner explains: "Topical poetry versus contemporary history is an unequal contest. The outcome was never in doubt. When towards the end of 1932, a fourth volume, Gesang zwischen den Stühlen, appeared, it was just in time for the Nazis' Burning of Books."

I marked much of this bk for quotation, for possible use as text in my movie Robopaths, but I think that quoting in full a poem from his 3rd volume of poetry, Ein Mann Gibt Auskunft (1930) will give the reader a good idea of why the nazis hated him so much:

The Other Possibility

(Die andre Möglichkeit)

If we had chanced to win the war
By dint of charging at the double,
Then Germany would be no more,
Would be a madhouse for its trouble.

They would attempt to make us tame
Like any other savage nation.
We'd jump aside if sergeants came
Our way and we'd spring to attention.

If we had chanced to win the war,
We'd be a proud and happy land.
In bed we'd soldier as before
While waiting for the next command.

Women would have to labour more.
One child per year. Or face arrest.
The state needs children for its store.
And human blood's what it likes best.

If we had chanced to win the war,
Then Heaven would be German national.
The parsons would be officers
And God would be a German general.

Then we'd have trenches for our borders.
No moon, insignia instead.
We'd have an Emperor issuing orders
And a helmet for a head.

If we had won, then everyone
Would be a soldier. An entire
Land would be run by goon and gun.
And round that lot would run barbed wire.

Then children would be born by number.
For men are easy to procure.
And cannon alone without fodder
Are not enough to win a war.

Then reason would be kept in fetters.
And facing trial each single minute.
And wars would run like operettas.
If we had chanced to win the war -
But thank the Lord we did not win it!

[translated from German to English by Patrick Bridgwater]

& I might as well throw in another one from the same collection:

Jesus, the Revolutionary, on His Birthday

(Dem Revolutiionär Jesus zum Geburtstag)

I was almost two thousand years
Ago you left this vale of tears,
Your body racked with pain.
You led the poor man to his God.
You suffered from the rich man's prod.
Your suffering was in vain!

You saw the power of tyranny.
You wanted all men to be free,
And longed for peace on earth.
You knew the bitter taste of wormwood
And wanted all men to perform good
That they might know life's worth.

You were a revolutionary
And made your life a purgatory
With men of means and learning.
Though love of freedom filled your mind,
This brought no profit to mankind.
None understood your yearning.

You fought against their bigotry,
Against all forms of slavery,
Those who led men astray.
Then, after other means were tried,
They had you framed and crucified.
It happens to this day.

Mankind did not find sanity,
Especially Christianity,
Despite all lip-devotion.
Your love's reward was unattained.
You died in vain. And man remained
Without a notion.

[translated from German to English by Patrick Bridgwater]

Erich Kästner is dead! Long live Erich Kästner! ( )