foaxes

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Published by Quotidian literary magazine and runner-up in New Zealand International Robert Burns Poetry Competition, featured in Dunedin Public Libraries e-magazine.

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here
thair its thair
aht foax again
rummagin throo ma bins
bold as ye like
boxin day
dain ma boax in

its fureezin
ahm only in ma slippers
sa ah canny go oot n hunt it
no in this weaer
snaws awfa deep

aht foax hus goat ma wheelie bin tipped rite oor
n its firin intae ma auld boax eh special kay
ahm hauf hopin an auld crismas
cracker goes aff in its face

ahm aboot tae shout
hawl you move
but then ah see a wee cub behin it
scamperin oot fae eh hedge
wan two three
three cubs
scurryin across ma gairden
mad wee ginger snouts
n bushy tails too big fur thair boadies
nosin throo leftover pigs n blankits

awk ah feel bad noo
ah widny hurt they wee cubs fur thi world
neither ah wid

its pure cute seein um
a wee faimily
munchin away oan herb n garlic stuffin

ah cin heer eh wains screamin
n sum disny fulm playin
n ah cin smell turkey gettin reheated
n ahm hinkin aboot how much lecky is burnin
while ah munch toast n luk oot eh back windae
in ma new crismas jammies wae her pink goonie oan
since ah didny get wan

n ahm watchin eh wee foaxes
thair wee sharp mooths full eh fruit cake
in aboot ma rubbish
in thi snaw
in ma back gairden
huvin thair ain crismas dinner

enjoy bois
merry crismas

 

What do you think of ‘foaxes’? Let me know in the comment section below.

 

 

moon child // Burns Window Project

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In commemoration of Scottish poet Robert Burns and in celebration of Burns Night (January 25th), The Globe Inn in Dumfries, said to be Burns favourite pub, held their annual Burns Window Project last month.

To take part in the project, Burns fans and poets were asked to write their entry on white paper with a black marker, scan their poem and email it in, or post it to The Globe Inn. The poems were then transferred onto cellophane and placed in the window panes of the pub – some visible from inside, some visible from outside – for punters to read during the Burns festival.

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Sadly, some of the submissions had faded a little bit by the time I went to see them, but I did manage to get a copy of this picture of my entry before the condensation melted it away. Here is my poem, ‘Glaze’:

Glaze

Could I float into the pane? Would I melt

into the glass? Would it bubble, blubber

and break; crumble into fine ash,

or speckles of sucrose sand in my palms?

Or stay crystal, tangible, and tap-tap-tapable?

 

Painted with kaleidoscopic hues in the day,

filled with filigree shadow ghosts by dark –

it is liquid, gas, and solid in one.

 

I see your reversed image, my distorted

reflection at one, but split, sliced apart.

Two delicate wisps of marble caught, frozen,

between the beaded glaze.

 

Mirror, water, looking glass? I can hardly tell,

never mind bear to meet its gaze.

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I loved the idea of the Window Project because I think melding the worlds of literature and physical art is a really interesting concept, so having poems in windows – as if they had been physically scribbled onto the pane – is something I immediately liked the sound of. If you know of any other projects similar to this that mixes contemporary literature/poetry with art, let me know in the comment section below.

The poems will be on display at The Globe Inn until February 20th.

What do you think of the Burns Window Project, and ‘Glaze’? Let me know in the comment section below!