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.
The APC now has poets in cafés all over Australia. They’ve sent though some updates to let all our members know how they’re going.
The crew at Higher Ground have all been very friendly and have helped me to feel at home straight away. I visit the cafe two or three times a week, mostly to either write poetry or read. The place has a great vibe, a real buzz of creative energy, and the coffee is top notch too, all of which helps me to knuckle down and work hard.
We’re also planning a poetry event, hopefully the first of many. Because Adelaide already has a lot of poetry readings we’ve decided to do something different: a poetry debate with a wrestling theme. The poets on the debating teams have all chosen wrestling names, personas and costumes. I’ve even conned Steve Smart to come over from Melbourne and be part of it, and he has mentioned something about a glittery pink cowboy hat. We’re planning to film the event and put it online so that APC members in other States can check out the madness. “Rules in poems were made to be broken!”
I find myself in Teaspoon, Bundaberg, most mornings between 8 and 9. The coffee is good and I’m touring the world via the teas. Teaspoon is a very friendly place, which has proved an absolute bonus. There is a group of ex-military guys who come in every morning and the way they support each other is amazing. They choose not to isolate themselves at the RSL, but meet in the community. They have all sorts of non-military guys, including a recent All Blacks player, who have stuck to the group, and even some people of the female persuasion. They have embraced their poet, quite literally. As a writer, I’m onto something. There are so many stories in this group, but the stories are in the subtext. It’s what they don’t say … and I’m racking my brains as to how to write about them. I wrote a poem about their special handshake that lingers and supports, and now I’m ‘in’ on the handshake. They have a talented photographer and he seems open to combining photos with verse, perhaps character studies. As for Teaspoon, I thought I’d better justify my existence, so have put a few poems in a display folder and some short ones on cards (which they laminated for me) with the Teaspoon logo, my name and ‘poet-in-residence’. These sit with the salt and pepper on the tables. If they are taken away, I’ll just print more. The residency is great fun, incredibly tiring (has anyone found that?) and the people I’m meeting and stories I’m hearing are pure gold. I’m loving my 6 months.
I am off to a slow start at Tilley’s! Paulie the proprietress is very supportive and has some great ideas - it is just taking some settling in to work out a schedule of what is happening, and when I spend time there. We have decided to have an ‘inbox’ for me at the cafe for any messages, queries, some feedback on writing etc. She is going to put a plaque up on the wall to say “poetry taking place here” or something like that! We are going to have a regular ’salon’ - and eventually some performance and combined art events.
Lara Taylor here, Poet in Residence at the Mortdale Grind in Sydney. We’ve launched a ‘Poem of the Week’ at our coffee shop which is going really well. Terry has a space for it on his counter and people can read it while they’re waiting for their coffee. It’s promoting quite a bit of discussion. Customers are asking about the program and enjoying the poetry.
Mr Tulk is fused with a paradoxical combination of heady, fast-paced energy and many cosy and cruisy nooks for quiet reflection, perfect for those equipped with pen and paper (or a laptop for the more tech-savvy folk out there). I have been developing the ‘Bittersweet’ concept (watch this space) and I’m hoping to install some text-based projections in the vast, vibrant Mr Tulk space. Other possible happenings include several reading events (excited by the prospect of using the State Library of Victoria) and some other performance events are being mooted with theatrical friends and associates.
I have begun writing at beautiful La Tropicana on High Street in Fremantle. Tropicana is already a local hero in supporting local poets, artists and musicians and were very welcoming of a new writer in their midst. Despite feeling positively corporate in the midst of dreadlocked, cheesecloth-clad patrons, Tropicana is a wonderful venue in which to begin my foray into poetry and spoken word.
I am also supported by the good people at Deckchair Theatre, where I act as part-time Administrator. I am discussing the possibility of a slam poetry performance by local artists at Deckchair later in the year. I hope to be able to merge my passions for poetry and performance in the creation of new and innovative live work. I’m keeping my ear out for collaborators!
I will be starting my residency at Chado -The Way of Tea in Hobart towards the end of April. I’ll be working on my verse-novella. I’ve met with Varuni, the owner of the tea house, and we’ve agreed to start thinking about the kinds of collaborative poetry events we could hold at the tea house during my six months’ residency.
Things are only just getting underway here in Brisbane, but I have a range of ideas slowly stewing… I had my first meeting with Lyn, the owner of Cosmopolitan Cafe last week and spent an hour or so kicking back in a booth with a coffee, pen and paper. I must say from the outset that Cosmopolitan do a mighty fine coffee - in fact, they were the first cafe in Brisbane to start roasting their own beans back in 1975. So I am looking forward to many long afternoons of thinking, talking, writing and drinking (coffee of course) in the beautiful 1970s surrounds of the Cosmopolitan. Here is the first draft of what I hope will be many poems written in the cafe as part of the project.
Two Bodies
i. You
Candle-lit
back
to the bed
light shines
through you
shows you up for
what you are - a
curled frond
of spine
held by
that scooped-out
nest of hip
cavity whose bones
like open books
offer themselves out
in blessing
ii. Me
Words skim
over the top of you
like pigeons over city roofs
What is true
is that you have
a place in my body
A cage of bone
for you
to come home to