20170415

sean burn



what the dusk-eyed-fox sees


if a kitsune (japanese for fox) offers a payment or reward that includes money or material wealth,
part or all ov the sum will consist ov old paper, leaves, twigs, stones, or similar valueless items
under a magical illusion. true kitsune gifts are usually intangibles,
such as protection, knowledge, or long life.

Nozaki, Kiyoshi (1961). Kitsuné — Japan's Fox of Mystery, Romance, and Humor.
Tokyo: The Hokuseidô Press.
quoted in Wikipedia. accessed 21.1.2015


rain bright thru shine / meadow floods mead / our vixen sharp-ears & coat enflame / & am blindsided, blood-unbound / brave new, brave new / language clumps & clots to our tongue / lifts some foxiness off this day / haze round my heart so much dew under sun / map some margins / still predator & prey in sweat-furred compromise to yr wordage / hyper-awed to lure & law ov land - yrs / this celestial-fox rather than field-fox births under sun & rain / & once in a generation human knowins / how our power increase / shape-shift - gender-twist - trickster-be / grant visions even / tho careful what yu ask / & treat us w/ respect / old times live close w/ yu humans, yu / now is return


call us kitsune - dusk-eyed fox / & servant ov edge / edges ov light, edges ov night / ov town & country / ov surfin the didsbury duality / am the blade, dont lick the blade / look up from slink, see this burger-boy / window ov chalk lickin the blade / boy are they hungry / wolf it down / am no wolf tho plans are afoot to re-wild these into our green & sceptic land / & underhand? / multiple poisonins birds ov prey, moors beyond


kin walks downin street day election calls / that on yr artery-narrowin viewtube? / fox among the chickens, cat among the pigeons, armadillo among the rednecks / beck & call, love-all / the political pile-up so much roadkill sweet / no goin far as the prodigy's the day is my enemy but ... / dusk is venue for carrion & carry-on / now this kin - fellow red not blue fox / red & black actually, defiant to tip her tail / against downin streets never apologise, never explain / seekin rain to wash her sweat spots off urban grass / smoked glass s/he walks in / alien worlds ov win or spin / vulpine politics more red than madder / more mad than red


honeysuckle hedge ov lapwing lane weaves a heart-edge / beats on / & by the smell out every-door, cookins bein performed / homeless camp central library ov cottonopolis / the quality ov leftovers - economy - even among this leafiness - still down / parmesan rind? bacon cracklin / marrow-fat narrowin arteries no ours for we run, run it off, run / best is handful ov fries throw-down fosters by student / slim pickins for this didsbury outlaw / no safety net, all bets off, even sunsets for sale / play dirty, clean-up, all profit towards a new death-star / yet under pavements the moorland, wetland, spring


hope above experience tattoos neckline / question-marks as earring / webuydotcom sunjunkiespraytan up window / big-value-s.u.v. aromatic facials in paper / crime & punishment second-hand, only £2.49 & slightly torn / crystal clear waxin to escape / poster ripped on phone-box reads destroy & wages / skin in the game? / skin his game! / unlock street-food (in) the raw / return petals to flower / late sun stitchin this cull to our rough carillon / a hack-barkin cough / from vantage-point to vagabondage - didsbury has our back / dont-wont cut enough slack / underneath? mosaics / dune, heathland, scrub


am no audrey niffenegger's raven girl / not de lint's crow girls / not leonora carrington's egg or ermine / nor don marquis' cockroach / nor arcimboldo's earth, hunt mouldin to the face & to the chase our ruddiness among that livery / am no werewolfs london - jiminy-cricket - mary chase's harvey / nor pippi longstocking's monkey nor horse / am no - usually - team player / nor chaucer's coal-fox / tho tips our tail & nose are also obsidian / am dusk-daughtered / the musk ov family across continents / such blood floodin yu & yrs / as we raid yr playbook in far-flung, star-stung hack


springheel-jack - magpie fellow gleans - suburb, nestlins, th' gleam / spark dark as any alpha / rag-robin cling to brick-cracks / wind-toss love that bluster ov pink / blister ov carrier-bag gathers pace down palatine road / its very little helps endin under wheels / such dog-rose entanglin the hundred year library where previous royalists encamped / beneath pavin slabs my marshland, forest, grit / parliamentarians too / general election posters still up / their tickin in wind after heavy roast / never kissed a tory tho bared teeth at more than a few / thieved their meats too


china miéville's kraken in oxfam / page 116 talks ov secret urban hunts / & would it surprise, aye? anarchist-acquaint once said / bring fox-hunts back but only for the urban / yu raise well-waxed eyebrow?! / see that shower - slasher-cameron, slow-boris, armagideon losin all in jeers / our tail - flaggin branded air in outfox, lose & loose them / street on street bangin pots & pans / didsbury-indies cheerin us on, hunt truly lost / if only government wz one money couldnt buy / the price ov future shock / ov sutures stocked / wont price us out / dont stare us out


mighty silver birches honour-guard the super-gnarl ov fog lane park / nineteen iron chairs lip-surf audience w/ horse chestnut / some are break-up seats / others are for the make-up / been following yr advice - sung since eight this morning - they're pissed off but it feels great - yu get a good lawyer? / this widow puts out bacon buttie daily in paperbag marked fox / glamour ourself to fletcher moss pipe-tobacco leaf-mold / last waft ov bluebell whisperin mersey bank / edgelands downstream / to break from pack & free


captain beefheart no snafu, no fol-de-rol / pounds down car-widowed stenner lane / invincible juke-boxins / havin yr rave & eatin it / the czars wore fox furs, look what happened to ... / wont catch our fur & fury / in amongst dream-notes - weave (across) marshy flats / sweet overspill into feral raspberry canes / ours are songs ov meaty borders / slatherin, snap-gone, a neat mouthful / leave only goldfinch wing / wznt us who air-rifle-pop it / then squirrel-heart gives out / take that sweetmeat too / clean up the welcome / on


handful ov brunette blows down barlow moor road / yu humans live by noise such that / long to hear own breath, own breathin / this arc ov life we cleave to / am we the only ones no prisoner? / sometime lie / cheese weddin cakes - purveyors ov fine - & hints ov dark berries / fishmongers work their window / lovers? brothers? / finish each others sentence - pack ice - scrub then sluice slabs / our gut - always this growlin & the lights dark w/in / but no so much as a tail or fin / us slink


head-over-heels w/ th' luthier on & ov school lane / cellos from eaves, their strings vibratin wind / this aeolian song-pealin / she saw our ears ride that wave / long-story-short - us civil-partnership / raise wean like dandelion / thru so many cracks ov city / but the rays ov noise / bit such exhaust / all this raze / beg luthier-she to move from that precise chaos congeal / but she roots as habit / suburbs attack - all vulpine us flee / yu may be fox but yu are our weans other mother / come back as yu please / each night to lie her arms / till the heavy tread ov first-lights floorboards sends us flightin


alls pink-triangled as road-kill th' inside / our rainbow ribbons - mine ancient song - tear strips from real / why war us thru so many thin hours? / till moon - out & proud - no rhinestone - throwin lustre everywhere / stick beyond shadowin / no yr resistance / am indignado alley-cattin th' water / skirtin playin fields / tithe to this ground where wild ransoms out the mersey / roll lithe (in) their crushed-ness, lessen our musk / dusk-shift among broom, forget-me-not, borage / our borders open as blood / wee-nation, yu cant thug us / lengthen stride - step over edge, edges / return to earth like golem to clay / today scouts a way thru / take luthier far / our offspring too / to dance & sway this night-glean / den-deep downstream / eat much nature & away

(this piece commissioned by didsbury arts festival, midsummer 2015)



sean burn's currently writing joey she-he with tynesides greyscale theatre - spanning 1981 (hard-right government, race-hate, savage cuts but punk) thru to 2041 - a good year, particularly for new caledonian crows. https://www.greyscale.org.uk/news
 
 
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