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Anat Ben David - Cherish The Birds

from THE PROMISE OF MEAT by Anat Ben-David with Anna Dennis/Richard Scott

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about

‘Cherish the Birds’ (Anat Ben David)
‘Cherish the Birds’ uses David Le Vay’s translation of Monique Wittig’s novel Les Guérillères
(1969), focusing on a scene in which ‘a hundred thousand little girls’ accidentally kill birds by
petting them too hard (like Lenny in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men). On realising what they’ve
done, they try to revive the chaffinches, canaries and linnets ‘by pressing them to their
mouths, letting their warm breath fall on them, lifting the limp heads, touching their beaks
with a finger’.

lyrics

After Monique Wittig’s novel Les Guérillères
(1969),

The little girls search in the bushes and trees for the nests of
Goldfinches Chaffinches Linnets.
They find some green canaries, which they
Cover with kisses, cover with kisses, cover with kisses-
which they hug to their breasts-
They run singing
They run singing, they bound over the rocks-
A hundred thousand of them, return to their homes

To:
Cherish their birds, cherish their birds, cherish their birds in their haste, they-
Cherish their birds in their haste, they
Clasped them too tightly to themselves.

They ran. They bent down to pick up pebbles-
Which they cast far away over the hedges,
They took no notice of their chirping, and climbed back
climbed back up to their rooms, to

Cherish their birds, cherish their birds, cherish their birds in their haste, they-
Cherish their birds in their haste, they
Clasped them too tightly to themselves.
They removed the birds from their garments, breathing hot air on them-
lifting the limp heads, touching their beaks with their finger-
Cover with kisses, cover with kisses, cover with kisses, which they hug to their breasts,
They remained inert.
Then,
A hundred thousand little girls, bewailed the death of their green
Canaries.
In the hundred thousand rooms of a hundred thousand houses, they,
Cherish their birds, cherish their birds, cherish their birds in their haste, they-
Cherish their birds in their haste, they
Clasped them too tightly to themselves.

credits

from THE PROMISE OF MEAT, released April 15, 2021
Anat Ben David, Angharad Davies- violin

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Anat Ben-David London, UK

Dr Anat Ben-David explores the freedom of live improvisation combined with traditional methods of musical composition. Her background in experimental theatre (the school of Visual Theatre, Jerusalem) and as a member of electro–punk band and art collective Chicks On Speed, has led to projects such as Kairos OperaArt at the V&A in 2017. ... more

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