HOLD THAT TIGER
By Chloe Wilson
That morning, in the mirror,
I’d pulled my draping cheek-skin upward.
I had shone, taut and foreign,
the gums and incisors
glistering with saliva.
While evening and the show crowds gathered,
I watched him. The chain glinked
as he traced his circle,
always stalking - even the grass
shivered under his breath.
Entering the ring, he beckoned
me to dance, laid one
paw on each shoulder
and rolled me in the dirt.
His mouth opened wide
as bedclothes, and I scented
the iron on his tongue
while he hinged his hips
and the crowd thought I was dying.
Tigers like to dine alone.
I knew this; yet stayed a moment
too long, waiting
for an invitation
and was not all that surprised
to find a joint of meat missing
from my thigh.
They hunt by pressing you
to their hearts, then
kicking out your insides
in a casual sweep.
There’s the danger.
Not, after all, in the teeth
but beneath the tail,
which, like a finger,
searches out any pleasures
the front end may have missed.
This one slid
his tongue along the contours
of my bowel,
sniffing like a sommelier.
That night, he cleaned himself
thoroughly, that supple
tongue spreading like a stingray
under the nails
and detailing the groin;
ignoring the crowd
nobly, as they shook
the metal bars
that keep them safe.
‘Hold That Tiger’ is featured in The Mermaid Problem, Chloe Wilson’s first collection that has been published as part of the APC’s 2010 New Poets Series, more details here.
UPDATE:
We are sorry to announce that the APC’s 2010 Poetry Lab will not go ahead in January. Please email admin@australianpoetrycentre.org.au with any queries.
We look forward to presenting Poetry Lab at some point in 2010 -stay tuned for details.
The APC Poetry Lab aims to improve the quality of participants’ poetry. The Lab encourages the development of an understanding of the nature of the poetry industry, and the establishment of supportive networks for poets, especially those in more isolated areas. Previous labs have been run by leading poetry tutors including Ron Pretty, Brook Emery, Bronwyn Lea and Michael Sharkey and the tutors for 2010 will soon be advised. There are seven elements to the program:
1. The Workshops: poetry brought to the workshop by participants is discussed in small groups
2. The Lectures: each of the workshop leaders will give one lecture on topics related to the writing of poetry
3. The Seminars: each workshop leader will give the same seminar twice, with half the group in attendance each time, these are practical sessions
4. The Readings: each evening there will be a reading by one of the workshop leaders and other members of the group
5. The Consultations: participants are entitled to consult with one of the workshop leaders, to be arranged at a mutually convenient time
6. A bookshop will run for the duration of the workshop, to which participants may bring and sell their books
7. The APC Poetry Lab anthology: we will publish an anthology featuring two pages of work by everybody at the workshop
Featuring morning poetry workshops, lunchtime lectures, evening readings, individual consultations.