Advertisement

Foxgirl Cycle Song: 1

by C. S. E. Cooney in Uncanny Magazine Issue Nine | 308 Words

Trap her in thorn, and she’ll slip her skin
Drown her in water, she’ll learn to swim
Burn her, she’ll turn into smoke and wind
Think you can catch her?
Well, think again

Fox demon, foxy face
Foxgirls don’t know their place
Marry her, bury her
Water her bones
Set your sons over her
Let them to spy on her
Hound her and harry her
Pelt her with stones

Cunning, conniving
A vixen, a villain
She’ll pull out your liver
And eat it with rice
Fingers for turnips
And bowls full of maggots
Your blood in her wineglass
Runs colder than ice

The wide world over
They all try to tame her
Like Lilith and Lamia
Serpent and whore
Arcane she is, dangerous
Ever the demoness
Black widow, blood shadow
Thirsty for more

Seductive illusion
All craft and confusion
She’ll tuck up her tail
And take to the wood
She’ll duck as you’re nearing her
Fuck you for fearing her
Foxgirls are clever
And up to no good

At least, so they tell me
She’s up to no good
But do I believe them?
I don’t think I should

Trap her in thorn, and she’ll slip her skin
Drown her in water, she’ll learn to swim
Burn her, she’ll turn into smoke and wind
Think you can catch her?
Well, think again

(Editors’ Note: “Foxgirl Cycle Song: 1” is read by Erika Ensign in the Uncanny Magazine Podcast Episode 9A.)

© 2016 by C. S. E. Cooney

Advertisement

C. S. E. Cooney

C. S. E. Cooney (she/her) is a two-time World Fantasy Award-winning author: for her novel Saint Death’s Daughter, and for her collection Bone Swans, Stories. Other work includes The Twice-Drowned Saint, Dark Breakers, and Desdemona and the Deep. As a voice actor, Cooney has narrated over 120 audiobooks, as well as short fiction for podcasts such as Uncanny Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Tales to Terrify, and Podcastle. In March 2023, she produced her collaborative sci-fi musical, Ballads from a Distant Star, at New York City’s Arts on Site. (Find her other music at Bandcamp under Brimstone Rhine.) Forthcoming from Outland Entertainment in 2024 is the GM-less TTRPG Negocios Infernales (“the Spanish Inquisition… INTERRUPTED by aliens!”), which she co-designed with her husband, writer and game-designer Carlos Hernandez. Find her website and Substack newsetter via her Linktree or try “csecooney” on various social media platforms and see if she’s there.