Booted
geese walked here once
until
the time of their slaughter
an
epic place, a monument
to
a nightmare, intended as
the
epicenter of empire,
marble
polished with the hearts
of
millions, washed in blood,
according
to the literal interpretation
it
did not, could not, survive, once
good
men did something.
so
it is always
Painting: Interior by Anselm Kiefer; oil, acrylic and paper on canvas, 1981. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Kiefer’s painting is taken from photographs of the Mosaic Hall designed by Albert Speer for Adolf Hitler’s New Reich Chancellery (above). The massive structure was bombed during World War II and later torn down.
