Hyena

John Burnside is one of my favourite poets. He creates a measured furiosity,  an even psychosis to his poems which is both entrancing and discordant. His works are often steeped in literary and artistic reference, with the influence and interpretative inspiration forming part of his authentic expression and artistic response.

I recently bought his award winning anthology "Black Cat Bone" and came across his gripping poem "Hyena".

Hyena

Like something out
of Brueghel, maned in white
and hungry

like the dark, the bat

ears pricked, the face

a grey

velour, more cat

than dog, less

caracal

than fanalouc

or civet -

here is the patron beast

of all

who love the night:

waking at dusk

to anatomy's blunt hosanna,

the carrion daylight

broken

then picked to the bone

while the radio dance-band fades

to a slow alleluia,

and far at the back

of the mind, the perpetual

frenzy; eye-teeth

and muzzle

coated with blood

with matter,

as every mouth 

digs in,

for fair, or foul,

a giggle in the bushes,

then a shudder.

__

I found a painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder (there are four Dutch painters by the name Brueghel) which depicts a host of wild animals; "Earth Or The Earthly Paradise". It includes what looks like a hyena in the bottom left corner. 

Its interesting to note the elements of a dark psychological edge in the close-up around the Hyena. Don't the flowers remind you a bit of Van Gough? Also note the teeth, the intent of the gaze.

Something I found particularly evocative as a counterpoint to what Burnside and Brueghel have to say about Hyenas are the series of photographs by Pieter Hugo. Hugo is South African photographer who did a series “The Hyena & Other Men”. The series follows a group of Nigerians who have Hyenas and Baboons as pets. In these almost surreal and evocative photos he captures these men and their hyenas in a background of urban decay and dust. Well worth a look:

http://www.emptykingdom.com/featured/pieter-hugo-the-hyena-other-men/

For some more Burnside read the article form The Gaurdian where he writes about some of the inspiration for the poem

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/20/author-author-john-burnside

This is a live recording of a recital of his own poems, of which "Hyena" is one:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/audio/2012/jan/16/ts-eliot-prize-john-burnside-podcast