Johann Hamza, German
“It Says Corporate Has Decided To Pivot. From Now On, Instead of a Build-A-Bear Workshop, We’re a Build-An-Ostrich Workshop,” 1902
Oil on wood
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Info, or perhaps links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here (archived if necessary), here (if truncated, can be read in full for free on Fridays), and here, perhaps in addition to what’s in his Google translated German Wikipedia page.
/// ”Feather Makers” are the exact words
that describe what these women in herds
work at in immense rooms.
But, if girls make these plumes,
why on earth did men kill all those birds?
/// Though it’s title seems somewhat deceptive,
view this painting in proper perspective.
Girls sort feathers, and that’s
to attach them to hats.
Could the meaning of “make” be subjective?
/// Other workers here cut nibs and cleanse
feathers, forming them into quill pens.
Yet another group musters
to form fine feather dusters.
Some fill pillows, pluck ducks and flick hens.
/// The one man on the floor doesn’t shrink
from hard work here at Bird Plumage, Inc.
Ask him what does he think
of his job— he will wink
and say, “Honestly, I’m tickled pink!”
/// Feathers are quite miraculous things.
Causing flight, fanned out from a bird’s wings.
But who knew that they were,
like scales, older than fur
back when dinosaur tyrants were kings?
/// It’s now thought that a lusty T-Rex
displayed plumage when he wanted sex.
Just imagine the hat
you could make out of that,
(but the plucking would probably vex).
/// Heather sits, slowly reading a letter
which the stock boy can see has upset her.
Her last client complained
that his ankle is sprained.
She’d forgotten to unlock his fetter.
/// Every kink of that client she’d tackled.
She could tell he’d been pleased; he had cackled.
In a hollowed-out tome
she had taken work home.
Feathers tickled him while he was shackled.
/// Before leaving for work that dawn, Heather
Could have sworn she detached his chain tether.
In his note he made clear,
“Hurry back, I’m still here.
I await you in the altogether.”