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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.

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Special Events

ARTPLAY POETRY ANTHOLOGY 2010

HOME IS WHERE THE POEM IS

Series of workshops exploring what “Home” means via poetry and art,

devised by Annie Edney and Victoria Ryle © 2009

A series of intercultural poetry workshops led by Melbourne poets and a visual artist, in which children compose poems, illustrate and create a book. Outcomes will be compiled into an ArtPlay Poetry Anthology, launched during National Poetry Week at the Melbourne Writers Festival.

PARTNERS

The Australian Poetry Centre is happily a partner on the ArtPlay Poetry Anthology project. This involvement strengthens their aims and objectives by bringing poetry to children in an accessible manner. The ArtPlay Poetry Anthology will be included in The Almeida Collection, Victorian State Library.

Local visual artist Annie Edney will work alongside a diverse selection of poets to facilitate illustrations of the poetry written, using a variety of visual arts techniques, including culturally appropriate materials. Community publisher Victoria Ryle will work with the groups to make a book - participants will take home a “published” copy of the book made in their workshop.

BUSHFIRE OUTREACH PROGRAM

Beside the workshops at ArtPlay, there will be an outreach program with the Primary School of the bushfire-affected community of Flowerdale. This project offers these children the opportunity to tell the story of their experience via poetry and visual arts, in a safe and creative way. It will also facilitate a cultural exchange with children from a range of Melbourne communities about the reality of living in rural Australia during drought time.

SUDANESE INVOLVEMENT

Artist Annie Edney is developing a workshop with a Sudanese poet in a community setting, working with 5 – 7yr old Sudanese children, who will be invited to attend the Anthology launch during the Melbourne Writers Festival.

YOUNG POETS ON RADIO

Children who have participated in the “Home is Where the Poem is” project at ArtPlay will have the opportunity to read their work on the podcast “Nothing Rhymes with RRR”.