arts, literature

Roan Kasanmonadi: Was Signed, Anon

Eighteen young Flemish and Dutch authors drew inspiration from the collection held by the Mauritshuis in The Hague. They looked at seventeenth-century paintings through an alternative historical lens which they then brought to life in short but powerful texts. Roan Kasanmonadi was inspired by a painting by Gerard de Lairesse, Achilles Discovered among the Daughters of Lycomedes. ‘this is a farewell letter, dear home front’

Was Signed, Anon

this is a farewell letter, dear home front,
you know this dying is my destiny, and yet
that doesn’t make it any less irrevocable

last night I dreamed of gentle Sunday mornings on a farm
of watching TikTok clips in bed, for hours on end
about horses I wouldn’t have to hide in

all quiet on the western front

we were like the audience at an overseas talk show:
you get a gun! you get a gun! you get a gun!
you all get a gun! stick out your chest like a proud chicken!

then it’s Christmas
together we sing about trees and being homesick
back to survivalling tomorrow

all quiet in western africa

after an evening of Call of Duty someone asks:
would you quietly accept your orders?
bravely march to war?
rebel when you see fit?

bluff

would you fake psychosis?

consider it a multiverse with a puppet in each
timeline: Achilles, Paul Bäumer,

all quiet on the west bank

insurgents, children in an open-air prison
who were once described as meek
hadn’t asked to be dipped in the Styx but wanted to play marbles

now we’re equipped with helmet and sword

bluff
says the target

• deBuren
• Gerard de Lairesse
• Mauritshuis