“You Treat Us Like Dogs”
I can’t resist sharing this poem by my friend Bob Hay. the late Bob Hay. He bequeathed me a whole box of notebooks filled with poetry and sketches, and I’ve only read the first one. This poem is called ‘Oratory (for one actor) in four parts’ and it comes with stage directions:
At the beginning, it says “memorize actually acurately as possible and deliver as slowly, painfullly, and finally benevolently as possible…” Between the third and fourth stanzas, it says “(at this point the actor/reader is directed to act out a series of dog sounds, barkings. yelps, viscious expressions of AVID Hatred, smelly hairiness etc…)” I include these directions here at the beginning so as not to interrupt the continuity of the poem.
Oratory (for one actor) in four parts
We are treated
inhumanely
We are pent up
Like DOGS
YOU TREAT US
LIKE DOGS
Every day you make
us walk the path
and bark before
your estate
We cannot wait
to put the bite
upon you
not quite
The scraps you give
us for the win
in the races you stage
are too rotten
to bury