The poet Martin Piekar – Connecting the inside to the outside

For Piekar, the enduring tension between the individual and society is fascinating and deeply political. He is interested in how we negotiate our emotions internally and externally, and how we make political decisions on a daily basis, often in passing and without being fully aware of them. He sees poetry as a way of engaging with his own expression, which always comes from within and strives to reach the outside. For Piekar, language is thus both the way in and the way out. And a way to overcome the silence, the resignation. He says: “I feel that the greatest lack of understanding creates the greatest silence – people then stop talking to each other and only talk about each other.”

Piekar describes his style lyrically as:

Dunkel, dreckig, digital-affin. 
 Oral, offen, oczywisty.
Philosophisch, po prostu, Pathos.
Autentyczny, Ausbruch, ahnend.
Młody, merklich, mündlich.
Inny, Internet, introspektiv.
Nadziana, neugierig, nachfragend.

(“Dark, dirty, digitally savvy. 
 Oral, open, oczywisty.
Philosophical, po prostu, pathos.
Autentyczny, awakening, anticipating.
Młody, marked, verbal.
Inny, internet, introspective.
Nadziana, nosy, questioning.”)

Asked about role models, he replies: “I want to be my own role model eventually.”

Martin Piekar now loves travelling to Poland. He has not made his mother’s fears his own: he loves the Polish language and poetry, Polish food and the ability of many people in Poland to be exuberant and open. In Germany, he sometimes misses this joyful, life-affirming atmosphere and also complains about the lack of Polish restaurants. At the same time, he enjoys living in Germany, loves the German language and poetry and appreciates the structures that he has known for so long. And, of course, his friends, his adopted home of Frankfurt am Main, his life as a poet and teacher are in Germany. He travels to Poland about twice a year. Once to visit relatives, and then again just for himself. “I know the country”, he says, “and yet I know so little of it”. For Polish-German relations, Piekar would like to see more interaction, more exchange and a recognition of similarities. He says: “We are neighbours and we will remain so.”

Last year, Martin Piekar became even better known in the literary world. With his text “Mit Wänden sprechen/Pole sind schwierige Volk” he won both the KELAG Prize and the Audience Award, which came with a scholarship in Klagenfurt, at the Festival of German-Language Literature (Bachmann Prize) in Klagenfurt. In the text, he pays tribute to his mother and her dramatic life story. Piekar has now published his third volume of poetry under the title “livestream & leichen” (“livestream and corpses”). In it, he combines Polish and German, gives both backgrounds and languages space and, in combination with Nina Kaun’s illustrations, creates a completely unique atmosphere. As the title of the anthology of poems suggests, Piekar combines current themes and today’s use of language with his black Romantic vein, thereby breaking both in favour of a more complex view of the inside of an ego that continually seeks to connect with and protect itself from the outside. 

Martin Piekar is currently working on his first novel, the content of which he does not yet want to reveal. With regard to poems, he says: “I will be working on them my whole life.”

Anselm Neft, March 2024

The artist online: https://martin-piekar.net/