arts, literature

Helen Weeres: Barking Dogs

Eighteen young Flemish and Dutch authors drew inspiration from the collection held by the Mauritshuis in The Hague. They looked at seventeenth-century paintings through the lens of an alternative history which they then brought to life in short but powerful texts. Helen Weeres gives a voice to the poultry in the Melchior d’Hondecoeter painting Chicken and Ducks from 1680. ‘Hear, hear! Spread the word! Don’t let your beaks be trimmed’

Barking Dogs

Hear, hear! Spread the word! The alarm bells are ringing

I bring you visions, prick up your ears – praise be it’s not yet too late
Our parliament of owls did a 360 review and divined our demise
You were hunted and plucked, gutted and spatchcocked
Your nests they were raided and readied for breakfast

Hear, hear! Spread the word! Let the cockerels crow

All the fields were laid to waste by monstrous iron
soil ripped up and artificially manured
You were banished to concrete jungles
with featherless bipeds ruling the roost

You were cooped up, you were cattle prodded
Your throats gavaged, fed layers of mash and water
Your male offspring was killed from the off
Life became breeding, and it was only too fleeting

Hear, hear! Spread the word! Don’t let your beaks be trimmed

After a crisis meeting news emerges from the Nest
You’ve been summoned, ‘tis time for your vote
In a referendum, the boundaries will be drawn
What future do we envision for this beastly human race?

Take a bill and tweet your pamphlet
Now’s not the time for peaceful birdsong
Swoop on down and make your winged choice
but don’t forget to hand back your pencil again

Hear, hear! Spread the word! Your dawn choruses are numbered

Their day of judgement has arrived
Human hunting season is now open

Hear, hear! Spread the word! Let us hear your battle cry

Revenge their wrongs, rob the rest from their slumber
Pluck the hair from their heads and the crops from their orchards

Load crossbows with arrows infected with salmonella
Plunder castles and barracks and march on The Hague

Whet scalpels and axes and sever the heads from their bodies
Let’s see if those humans can walk after that

Foot(note)print

This text was brought to you by the inspirational power of the support given to the Mauritshuis by NN Group. Since 2015 NN Group has been mentioned and thanked no fewer than 114 times in the museum’s annual reports. Through its business investments, this ‘financial services provider’ is implicated in animal suffering, climate change, gender inequality, tax evasion, deforestation, the arms trade and more. Further information on this can be found in reports published by the Eerlijke Verzekeringswijzer (Fair Insurance Guide).

• deBuren
• Mauritshuis
• Melchior d' Hondecoeter