Max Brod by Jack Blenkinsopp

Max Brod lives a life as a footnote
With his novels I will never read
In obscurity in Tel-Aviv
The sole executor

Max Brod disobeyed his instructions
'Burn my manuscripts, pages and notes'
'Burn everything I ever wrote'
To alter the future

In the louder parts, don't you question why
That advisor has that look in her eye?
Does the story not add up just too well?
Someone has to live
Someone has to tell

I'm reclining downstairs with assistants
With the sidekicks and chauffeurs and toughs
Whose work and whose lies were enough
For brandy and plotting

Cos when a man turns to an insect
Then an insect must turn to a man
Who must then come up with a plan
To get back to nothing

Somewhere down the line there's a liar
Someone kept a hold of it all
To the smell of damp flags in a hall
The secrets protected

Max Brod never started the fire
Cos he had a whole life to create
From a photoshoot with his old mate
Who no one suspected

Somewhere far from Prague when the rest have gone
Someone's leaving notes for the hangers-on
Someone makes up time for the wasted days
Someone has to go
Someone has to stay

• Max Brod
• Newcastle
• Pop
• Newcastle Upon Tyne