Elizabeth Marie Young
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THE TIGER KING
The Tiger spends most of his time indoors forging incongruous
forests each one with a tiger in it, a needle-like sliver in its paw.
Erstwhile Tiger.
Arrogant Tiger.
Tiger eluding all definition.
Ludicrous, almost proverbial Tiger.
Let’s never mention the Tiger again.
Because, come on, you know you cringe whenever the Tiger
claps his paws like some imbecile delighting in human folly
and vice.
The Tiger spends most of his waking hours indoors doing
basically nothing but lick himself raw.
Why, then, is the Tiger so watchable?
The Tiger barely matters now, even as he draws millions
of viewers, regular women and men who have lost their jobs
or lives to the current political order, their path leading through
a forest full of misfits and imposters in makeshift metal cages.
The Tiger’s tired. He spends most of his time meditating his next kill, hissing at the security cameras.
He’s veering toward a concrete barrier, on the way to Pensacola.
He’s heading for the freeway, sharpening his teeth on the way to self-actualization.
Affable tiger!
Anodyne tiger!
Be astounded by your strength.
Be stunned by your conviction.
You were made to burn and burn.
Tiger, get your shit together.
The Tiger’s surrounded by plain clothes policemen,
he’s surrounded by adoring fans shouting “Get the fuck
down on the ground.”
The Tiger’s victims now include a number of prominent politicians,
child soldiers, Buddhist monks, prison guards, real estate moguls.
Amateur Tiger.
Innocent Tiger.
Tiger, Tiger uncreated.
Why do icicles form on your whiskers?
Why do icicles cling to your teeth?
Why do icicles hang from your claws?
The tiger’s lawyers decline to comment. They’re signing
an affidavit. The Tiger’s been sentenced to life
On his way to Myrtle Beach.
On his way to Pensacola.
Tiger, tiger, feed their needs,
Roar at the forest! Roar at the camera!
Veer immensely into space, then bleed into the real world.
Biographical Statement
Elizabeth Marie Young is a Boston-based poet and educator. Her first book of poems, Aim Straight at the Fountain and Press Vaporize, won the Motherwell Prize from Fence Books. She is also the author of a chapbook of queer, X-rated sonnets and Translation as Muse: Poetic Translation in Catullus’s Rome, a book about the ancient Roman understanding of lyric translation and literary creativity.