The Kafka Lovers by J.J. Steinfeld


The man with a body

like Gregor Samsa’s

and the woman

with a lost appetite

like the Hunger Artist’s

both inventors of loneliness

both as isolated as sad planets

both caught by life’s unfairness

met during a costume party

on the occasion of the release

from solitary confinement

of a man with the exact

neuroses and temperament

of Joseph K. just before

his inexplicable arrest.

The man with a body

like Gregor Samsa’s

after a glass of wine

admits his desire

for the woman

with a lost appetite

like the Hunger Artist’s

her simplicity and thinness

and unrepentant mysticism.

They exchange phone numbers

almost comprehend each other’s

identity and perplexity

the fearful small talk

and frightened thinking

turning to the tactile

she stroking his shell

he touching her empty belly

like foreplay and enthrallment

during the beginning of madness

in an unwritten fairy-tale of love

by a ghost with a resemblance

to Kafka’s romantic double.

 


Canadian fiction writer, poet, and playwright J. J. Steinfeld lives on Prince Edward Island, where he is patiently waiting for Godot’s arrival and a phone call from Kafka. While waiting, he has published 24 books, including An Unauthorized Biography of Being (Stories, Ekstasis Editions, 2016), Absurdity, Woe Is Me, Glory Be (Poetry, Guernica Editions, 2017), A Visit to the Kafka Café (Poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2018), Gregor Samsa Was Never in The Beatles (Stories, Ekstasis Editions, 2019), Morning Bafflement and Timeless Puzzlement (Poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2020), Somewhat Absurd, Somehow Existential (Poetry, Guernica Editions, 2021), Acting on the Island (Stories, Pottersfield Press, 2022), and As You Continue to Wait (Poetry, Ekstasis Editions, 2022).  

Published 2/14/25