bite the hand that starves

Wara! 2023 - oil on canvas — Krzysztof Powałka (Polish, b.1985)

Wolf & Rabbit : a series on trauma & healing

Their split faces loll open, tongues dangling from their exposed throats. Perfectly still and silent. [...] And as Charity strides forward and takes her place beside them, the dogs nuzzle and croon around her

Eight for a wish Nine for a kiss Ten for a chance you must not miss Eleven for a wasp Twelve for a bee Thirteen for a coffee Fourteen for tea

Fifteen for a pencil Sixteen for a pen Seventeen to hear these options once again

Eighteen for pepper Nineteen for salt Twenty for an accident in which you were not at fault

Twenty one for Jerry Twenty two for Tom Twenty three - where are all these magpies coming from?

Twenty five no seriously Thirty this is weird Forty eight from where have all these magpies suddenly appeared?

Sixty two stop counting Seventy just run Ninety nine the revolution of the magpies has begun

Two hundred no more sorrow Five hundred no more fears One thousand for how long the empire of the magpies will last in years