GUNTER GRASS- “Aged and with the last of my ink”
by Paul Aitchison
An old man, followed by many ghosts, stalked and adorned by a dark history, writes a poem, honest unto himself to lighten his heavy heart. Gunter Grass, a German writer, has proven to the world that a poem can shake the very foundations of our political minds and teach us to speak our own thoughts regardless of social price, for our own thoughts are all we have.
In a world such as the one we swarm; it has comes to reason that points of view are made with actions; sanctions, guns and wars but not so often words. It is seen as sane when we walk where we are told as the planes fly over our heads. We ignore the whirling, flashing signs, the signals of a twitching momentum because we believe that this is just the way of it.
It should give us confidence, then, when words written by one man do the work of the moon and move the tides. It comforts me to see that we can still, beneath the monolith of media, project our thoughts and thereby cause the masses to think clearly about the politics defining of our time. Do you see the politicians rear up on their hind legs in the face of art as if it were the launch of a rocket? Let us savour this moment.
This isn’t a “fuck the system” statement, but the reaction of a writer inspired and encouraged once again by the power of words. I remember the first time I read a poem in public, at a little bar in my home town – The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by T.S Eliot. I was nervous as hell, my hands were jittering and the book I held was vibrating. It’s a very long poem for a first read, and for my sake I should have chosen a shorter one, but it had captured me in such a way that it was my only option, I pushed through. A few weeks later, on returning to the same bar, a young feller came up to me to say how he enjoyed my “honest” reading of the poem, how it had become his favourite and encouraged his writing. In such moments you can hear the still reverberating echoes of the moment, the big bang, of the creation of language.
I do not whole-heartedly agree with the content and political points of Gunter Grass’s poem “What Must Be Said”, but that is beside the point of this article spark. I am, however, heartened by the reach of Grass’s personal thoughts and the way they have scared some thus empowered many. It should not be dimmed nor hidden, deemed invalid or disregarded though you have every right to disagree as Grass has to express, is this not democracy?
Behind the rims of his glasses and the billowing pipe smoke, I believe Grass feels himself at peace, that he has set his final force to rest and although now deemed unpopular, his poem embodied his life’s goal – the goal of all writers – to make a written stand in defence of his beliefs that will echo through the minds of many, and to change the world with words.
Very nice, spronker. I obviously need to read this poem to understand the piece a little better. Though actually it stands alone really well. Great piece of writing man. Big love J
The poem,the best translation in my opinion: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/04/gunter-grasss-controversial-poem-about-israel-iran-and-war-translated/255549/
Thanks for your link, Paul – before I respond to your point, let me say that I greatly admire your drawings .
But as you can probably imagine, I don’t at all agree with you re. Grass: what does it mean to celebrate a “poem” that really isn’t much of a poem just because it caused enormous controversy? Moreover, the controversy ensued not because of the artistic quality of Grass’s lines, but because of who had written it, and what his message meant in the context of efforts to come to terms with Germany’s Nazi past – of which Grass is a part, not least because he spent his life preaching to others (particularly those whose politics he opposed) about how important it was to face up to Germany’s Nazi past, while he was failing to do himself what he demanded with such a pretense of superior morality from others.
But what I’m trying to say is perhaps best expressed here:
http://sadredearth.com/%e2%80%9cwhat-must-be-said%e2%80%9d-is-nothing/
(Cross-posted on my blog)
Thank you for your comment-
It is everything to celebrate a poem. Within this article I have stayed neutral in terms of content, neither siding with the for or against as stated. purely though, to celebrate the power of words, how many minds they can empower, enrage, just like how we debate now! this is a pure part of civil living and we should never cease to encourage people to write their own thoughts creatively as we both write them here.
As for the creative aspect of the poem- I thought it to bare some, nothing less than beautiful lines.
P
Very nice. I didn’t find much to disagree with in Grass’s poem. He could have written yet another novel on the topic of the insanity of war, and it would be studied by future generations of bored university students. But this poem — not half so excellent as his novels in literary terms — has provoked an overly hysterical reaction by the perpetrators of what looks to be the next profoundly stupid war, and has earned Grass the only supporters who really matter: ordinary people.
Very good, though I don’t think Grass wants supporters, nor do I think he means to lead the masses to truth but just having created a spark is more than enough. cheers.
This is a beautifully written article Paul.
While I don’t have an awful lot to contribute to the conversation, I agree with the author of article that posted the translation. It reads more like an essay that has been made to look like a poem. But it doesn’t detract anything from the meaning. It’s just a style thing.
I’ve always felt that controversy is an important part of social development and a power vehicle of change. And while it seems that what he has written has caused a great deal of controversy, he is clearly giving a voice to a public murmur that has been going on behind cupped hands and closed doors for years.
It was only a matter of time before someone made those comments.
I’ve been binging on you tonight