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McKenzie
Dogs Tale
Peacocks preen, Queens plot, troubadours serenade. Dreams are spun and betrayals hatched amid the pageantry of the medieval Court. This is Dog’s Tale, as he, silent and observant leads us through the seasons and allows us to witness and contemplate with him the intrigues and follies of those who inhabit the cards.
A deck of playing cards, a morality play set to the cycle of the seasons and presided over by the Green Man – the symbol of the Life Force who speaks through the secret laws of Nature.
In this series of 69 handpainted miniatures, which form a deck of playing cards, Anita has drawn on her background in Medieval History and Symbolism. Her intention is to delight the eye and engage the spirit. The rich tapestry of the images and a beguiling poem, narrated by wise Dog, invite us to enter this world and to meditate on a game as old as time but as relevant to us today.
Dogs Tale
Prologue
I am Dog.
I roam the Court
And watch the Royals
at their sport.
I see the touch,
the secret glance,
The moves through
life’s eternal dance.
From highest King to lowly Jack,
Each plays their part throughout this pack.
Spring
The earth does wake with rising sap.
We see Jack peacock set his cap
At his Mistress; young and bored.
He cares for things he can’t afford.
His plumage fine,
Good food, sweet wine.
He dreams of jewels.
She dreams of him.
He’ll gladly satisfy her whim.
Whiling away the stolen hours
‘Til passion cools amongst the flowers,
The lovers fool the pious King,
Who dreams of quite another thing.
Summer
The sun in splendour.
The stag is out.
The King with baying hounds about
With gleaming teeth and lolling tongue,
There is no rest ‘til prize is won.
There’s foolish Jack, sad and forlorn,
No longer blowing Sun King’s horn.
He gazes after merry band
The newest favourite close at hand.
The Diamond Queen enclosed and tethered
As her hawk,
Is golden feathered.
Thinks of him who plucks so lightly,
Sings so sweetly, until nightly
She is led,
Golden flowers overhead,
To the lovers’ summer bed.
Autumn
As autumn twilight softly falls,
Sweet melody wreathes garden walls
Where Lady Spade is in full song
With troubadour,
The whole year long.
The weary King home from the war,
Gone two years from his native shore
Looks on the babe who bears his name,
Has he been trumped in life’s cruel game?
And I, alone this Autumn night,
Come upon a beauteous sight.
A languid form on cushion bright,
Oh Joy,
Oh Bliss,
Oh my delight!
Winter
Queen Heart has come to Winter Court
Her brother King to see.
A snub nosed boy who’s played by Jack,
A Christmas fool is he.
The sad dark Queen is in her tower
At prayer on bended knee,
Her fervent wishes whispered low,
With sweet Heart soon to be.
Now hunting Jack with Sun King flown
Cares for horse and hound alone.
Not for him the rose cheek’d maids
With sparkling eyes and flowing braids,
His oats were all in Summer sown,
The lowly stable is his home.
The Christmas feast at last we hold,
All bright of eye and lips so bold
For kissing under mistletoe.
And in the midst of Winter cold
Into each other’s arms they fold,
As fond old Heart does gently glow.
Epilogue
And overall the Green Man rules,
Nature’s mighty power.
From snowy crag to forest cool,
O’er every beast and flower.
Indifferent to the human game,
The follies and the chance,
‘Til finally, we bow and step
Embraced in our last dance.
Anita McKenzie
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