‘in a former life, in another time
a fox girl departs from the land of jade
in a former life, in another time
to a distant cloud where fortunes are made
nine obedient wives, all refugees
a fox girl departs from the land of jade’
The opening lines of Lee Murray’s extraordinary prose poetry collection, ‘Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud’, set the scene for the stories to come. A fox spirit finds herself displaced and alone in a ‘distant land of dark earth and drifting clouds’. In order to ascend to the celestial palace, she must first inhabit nine mortal lives.
Fitting a skull to her head the fox spirit enters the first life—we follow along and share in her harrowing journey into the unspoken horror that was the lives of nine immigrant Chinese women in Aotearoa / New Zealand. Judged as curiosities, difficulties and not quite human, their only value is their capacity for reproduction—their worth measured in grains of rice.
Resurrected from the silence of death through the fox spirit, these women are given voice to tell their forgotten stories—stories of forced immigration, strangled hopes and dreams, subjugation, abuse, rape, and murder. Haiku interrupt these dark tales like a breath of forest air.
‘maple / in its container / rootbound’
Yes, ‘Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud’, is imbued with horror but with her profound depth of understanding and an extraordinary command of language and form, Murray brings a beguiling beauty to these grim tales. In contrast to the harsh lives of her characters, Murray’s lyrical prose flows and swirls. Words and phrases circle, spiral and repeat like the beating of a heart. They draw you in and immerse you.
I loved this book from its gorgeous gold-leafed cover to the full stop at the end of the Author’s Note. I read it in a single sitting. Like the fox spirit, I experienced this world, one in which I usually sit so comfortably, through different eyes—fingers scratching for a silver coin / a skull hitting concrete / a rising cleaver. It left me uncomfortable, filled with sorrow and rage. This is not horror as I’ve known it before. It’s closer, more personal, subversive and transgressive.
What is most disturbing is knowing that not only are these stories grounded in reality—drawn from the pages of Aotearoa / New Zealand’s history—but that they persist today.
Until this horrific cycle is broken, for every fox spirit who completes her journey from this distant cloud to the celestial palace, another will find herself in this land of pounamu. Here, the new fox spirit will bear witness to nine more lives and ‘sing their spirits to the mountains’.
—Winner of the NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize, Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud, is available from Cuba Press
https://thecubapress.nz/shop/fox-spirit-on-a-distant-cloud/
a fox girl departs from the land of jade
in a former life, in another time
to a distant cloud where fortunes are made
nine obedient wives, all refugees
a fox girl departs from the land of jade’
The opening lines of Lee Murray’s extraordinary prose poetry collection, ‘Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud’, set the scene for the stories to come. A fox spirit finds herself displaced and alone in a ‘distant land of dark earth and drifting clouds’. In order to ascend to the celestial palace, she must first inhabit nine mortal lives.
Fitting a skull to her head the fox spirit enters the first life—we follow along and share in her harrowing journey into the unspoken horror that was the lives of nine immigrant Chinese women in Aotearoa / New Zealand. Judged as curiosities, difficulties and not quite human, their only value is their capacity for reproduction—their worth measured in grains of rice.
Resurrected from the silence of death through the fox spirit, these women are given voice to tell their forgotten stories—stories of forced immigration, strangled hopes and dreams, subjugation, abuse, rape, and murder. Haiku interrupt these dark tales like a breath of forest air.
‘maple / in its container / rootbound’
Yes, ‘Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud’, is imbued with horror but with her profound depth of understanding and an extraordinary command of language and form, Murray brings a beguiling beauty to these grim tales. In contrast to the harsh lives of her characters, Murray’s lyrical prose flows and swirls. Words and phrases circle, spiral and repeat like the beating of a heart. They draw you in and immerse you.
I loved this book from its gorgeous gold-leafed cover to the full stop at the end of the Author’s Note. I read it in a single sitting. Like the fox spirit, I experienced this world, one in which I usually sit so comfortably, through different eyes—fingers scratching for a silver coin / a skull hitting concrete / a rising cleaver. It left me uncomfortable, filled with sorrow and rage. This is not horror as I’ve known it before. It’s closer, more personal, subversive and transgressive.
What is most disturbing is knowing that not only are these stories grounded in reality—drawn from the pages of Aotearoa / New Zealand’s history—but that they persist today.
- Two dead children found in a suitcase—their mother extradited back to New Zealand.
- The body of a small woman found inside multiple plastic bags fished from the sea—she wore blue pajamas and remains unidentified.
- A woman’s body abandoned in the boot of a car—not found for days.
- A real-estate agent disappears and is presumed dead—her body still missing.
Until this horrific cycle is broken, for every fox spirit who completes her journey from this distant cloud to the celestial palace, another will find herself in this land of pounamu. Here, the new fox spirit will bear witness to nine more lives and ‘sing their spirits to the mountains’.
—Winner of the NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize, Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud, is available from Cuba Press
https://thecubapress.nz/shop/fox-spirit-on-a-distant-cloud/
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