Poem After Googling ‘Are There Foxes in Cluj?’ @ Anthony Sorge // (Poezii) de AUZIT. @SpokenWord

What is our responsibility towards the world? Is the world kind? Are you?
In this episode, we discover a modern tale about heroes or maybe a lack of them, about Sisyphic efforts that make small acts of ordinary kindness matter and about faith in any higher power when we don’t have our internal one. It is also about foxes, about the absurdity of a city that is a welcome mat for developers, about ladies near Mega image, the hardships of recycling and why pigeons' lives should not get any harder.
Anthony Sorge is a writer and teacher originally from the United States. His short fiction has appeared in various anthologies and online publications, but since moving to Cluj he has discovered a passion for spoken word poetry. Often drawing inspiration from current and historical events, his writing explores themes of identity, power, and privilege.
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(Poezii) de AUZIT. is a series of episodes about spoken word and Romanian spoken word performers. We collaborate with the Decopertat community to explore the world of art that has started to make waves in Romania’s cultural life.
Arina Vizitiu hosts the series and is a member of the AUZIT team. She is the co-founder of Decopertat - a Federal Artist-Run Space, which is currently active in 15 autonomous regional communities.
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What is spoken word?
It is an interdisciplinary art with its very specific way of being. It's about both the poem and how it's recited.
Because spoken word focuses on the aesthetics of recitation and the intonations of the voice rather than the visual aesthetics on a page, we invite poets who would perform their own creations for us.
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Poet: Anthony Sorge
Host: Arina Vizitiu
Music: Cristian-Emmanuel Opriș
Sound recording: Alex Popa
Sound editing and post-processing: Ciprian Moraru
An AUZIT. production. 2024
Music: Cristian-Emanuel Opriș
tinyboat.bandcamp.com
/ cristianemanuelopris

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What is YOUR favorite part of this spoken word poem? 🧡

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Poem After Googling ‘Are There Foxes in Cluj?’ by Anthony Sorge
Walking into town last night I watched this kid run for his life
Fly around the corner onto Eroilor
Straight into traffic
I heard his sneakers slapping the black pavement
Cars honking in frustration
And two guys chasing him
Transforming the landscape with their shouts
From a strip of cafes to a hunting ground
Swinging wooden bats and ax handles overhead
Merciless
Wishing the kid dead
I was as scared of what would happen if the kid got caught
As if I saw
Because I knew there was nothing I could do
In the moments the bats flew down on his back
As fists and feet found limbs and teeth
Knew if I tried to help I’d get hurt
And calling the cops would just make it worse
So like a coward I slowed my pace
Waited for fate to intervene
Opening up a space between two stopped cars
A pocket of dark
To carry the kid home with whatever he stole
And I thought that even if he gets away tonight
There are only so many places you can hide
Even if you’re a chestnut tucked inside a ball of spikes
Someone’s still just biding their time
Till you drop and crack
But on my walk back across town
I watched a fox bound out of a bus’s path
Dart past the Glovo rider
Dive into a strip of grass and trash and leaves the color of his fur
The only thing that looked familiar in what was once a habitat
And is now a welcome mat for developers
And he disappeared
Escaped
And yesterday
I watched you give a few lei to the lady outside the Mega Image
Before the security guard chased you both off
And I know everytime you pass that one block
You make yourself watch for the guy nodding off against his concrete bed
And make sure he’s not dead yet
And whenever you have some bread left
You soften it in warm water because a pigeon’s life doesn’t have to be any harder
And the other day you spent five minutes
In front of two recycling bins
Trying to loosen the paper backing from a plastic wrapper
And even if it’s pointless I want to believe that that stuff matters
I want to believe that even if another world isn’t possible
At least this one can be more merciful