In our naïveté, we thought the pacing tiger
was no different from his wild cousins,
imagined a jungle filled with nervous beasts
wearing deep ruts in small patches of undergrowth.
no cage, no concrete moat or safety glass
confines me but still this restlessness
drives me in relentless figure eights
each step toward some new distraction is retraced
pacing
pacing
pace yourself
what’s the rush
the rush
chasing
the rush
pacing
chasing
rushing
darting
back and forth
chasing
the dart
that follows the pacing
the rush
that follows the dart
tranquilizer darts miss the mark
even children look away from the sad spectacle:
numbness passing for contentment
unbecoming
(but my god, in this too-vivid world
who doesn’t long for dullness?)
the same imagination creates
the illusion of the cage
and sets it ablaze
fire eats itself
extinguished
mistakes
saved
(can it change its stripes?)
Modern zoos provide expansive enclosures
stimulating activities, natural camouflage
if we are lucky we might catch a glimpse
the tracks tell us what we need to know.