Kiev Stingl was born in 1943 in Aussig a.d. Elbe in Sudetenland, from which he and his mother had to flee after the end of World War II. After having first having found refuge in Mannheim he was relocated to Hamburg in 1949, where he attended secondary school and unsuccessfully studied Politicology and Ethnology. In 1985 he moved from Hamburg to Berlin. Since 1975 he has been active as a composer, lyricist, singer, actor and performer and has authored four acclaimed LPs (Teuflisch, Hart wie Mozart, Ich wünsch den Deutschen alles Gute and Grausam das Gold und jubelnd die Pest), four books (Flacker in der Pfote, Die besoffene Schlägerei, Kainer Maria Cowboy and Sink Skin) and many other unpublished and unreleased works. His provocative behaviour and existentialist stance paired with outstanding qualities as a lyricist and author make Kiev Stingl a unique and uncompromising voice of the German post-war generation.
Flacker in der Pfote is Kiev Stingl’s first book, originally published by the Bavarian Pohl’n’Mayer press in 1979. Now edited and re-published by Moloko Plus from Schönebeck, Stingl’s poetry compilation looks and reads as vital, violent and unflinching as it was in 1979. Like much of Stingl’s lyrics, the poems form an exploration of the deeper layers of existence and love. In a rich and original use of the German language, Stingl’s poems lead the reader across a wasteland of the soul full of dizzying heights and abysses. Flacker in der Pfote, Blitzblatz im Auge… Stingl takes no prisoners.