Prague
Writing

Kafka was born here. The city has never recovered from the accuracy of his description.

Kafka's city · Absurdist architecture · Central European weight

Kafka was born in Prague and spent almost his entire life there. His work is not a departure from the city — it is a description of it. The bureaucratic labyrinths, the castle that governs the town from above without ever being reachable, the sense that transformation is possible at any moment and may or may not be desirable — these are Prague experiences before they are Kafka metaphors. The city contains his work like a museum contains its exhibits.

"The castle was visible from every street in the lower town. Nobody had been inside it within living memory. This was not considered unusual. The castle was there. The town was here. These were the conditions."

Tumbleweed Words — Prague

The Prague pieces work with the absurdist register that Kafka's city seems to require — not in imitation of Kafka but in response to the same material. Situations that have a surface logic and an underlying illogic. Characters who behave with complete rationality toward irrational ends. The flash fiction form is well suited to this: compressed, complete, slightly off.

David — Tumbleweed Words Flash fiction and poetry written on trains, in hostels, and in city streets. Published in Litro, Adelaide Magazine, Cleaver Magazine, and The Dundee Anthology. Pushcart-nominated. Five years on Substack.