Tomorrow we celebrate the Lunar New Year and, under the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Tiger begins so this week let’s write a tiger poem. Let’s honor those big cats whose ancestors once ate our ancestors and post the results in the comments below.
About Bartholomew Barker
Bartholomew Barker is an organizer of Living Poetry, a collection of poets in the Triangle region of North Carolina where he has hosted a monthly feedback workshop for more than decade. His first poetry collection, Wednesday Night Regular, written in and about strip clubs, was published in 2013. His second, Milkshakes and Chilidogs, a chapbook of food inspired poetry was served in 2017. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. Born and raised in Ohio, studied in Chicago, he worked in Connecticut for nearly twenty years before moving to Hillsborough where he lives and writes poetry.
Living Poetry 
Tiger at Moonspill
The heart she wrenched
from her chest
hung half loose from longing
Take this!
hot, wet and red.
This merciful earth,
where I make my bed,
saturates as spilled wine stains bread.
You who pick and parcel out your love,
consider the waterfall, sun’s fire,
sidereal light by day
You stand stone,
with hands a basin for my blood;
for marrow, liquid vermilion
sliding down your basalt breast.
You summon distance worse than death.
The ocean surge is my breath.
This daughter of earth prowls
outside the den, to reclaim life,
suckling her daughters.
Make wide the way
from you, bereft,
who have this pearl forfeit.
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Posted by ts19page | February 1, 2022, 9:14 AMWow. Great imagery! I especially liked the liquid vermilion and basalt breast. Well done!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | February 1, 2022, 5:41 PMThank you!
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Posted by ts19page | February 2, 2022, 12:41 PMLily
She sat there at table 4
So assured and strong
All eyes on her
A flaming orange cynosure
He glanced toward her
only an instant
in that moment I knew
he would ride with her
into what ever fray came
I would slash her
with my claws erupting
Bumblebees, bats and wolverines
have nothing on me
I would pluck out his eyes
leaving him with that tiger’s image
the last he would see
never knowing his Tiger-lily
had grown to twenty feet tall
I saw the carnage and knew
just like he knew me
I had to leave this city of bread
Leaving crumbs and entrails on the way out
“I’ll have the Cobb salad, please”
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Posted by Chris Clarke | February 1, 2022, 5:31 PMHa! Great description on Lily in the first stanza and I love the ending. Great work!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | February 1, 2022, 5:43 PMThe first verse is great! Nice rhyme with cynosure..Tall Tiger Lilies and Cobb Salad, a unique combination, fun to read.
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Posted by ts19page | February 2, 2022, 9:01 AMLikeLiked by 2 people
Posted by Bartholomew Barker | February 1, 2022, 7:59 PMI guess if we saunter into the flame we cannot run from the ashes. Nice allusions to the Cheshire cat smile as the moon, and the nod to the counting rhyme, ‘..catch a tiger by the toe,..’ .. It seems ee have learned to survive in the paws of tiger…
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Posted by ts19page | February 2, 2022, 12:48 PMThanks! Glad you caught the references and enjoyed the poem.
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | February 2, 2022, 5:44 PMLove the exhortation to burn brightly if you must burn
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Posted by Second Act Blogger | February 2, 2022, 8:49 PMHi there. I wrote my first tonka. fun – i like the word restrictions and pivot line.
Recent Chinese Zodiac
Rat was survival
Ox anchored our Covid lives
Tiger is Yang, fierce
Expect change – life, work, romance
Take a chance – life is too short
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Posted by Second Act Blogger | February 2, 2022, 8:47 PMI’m hoping for some change. Thanks for sharing!
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Posted by Bartholomew Barker | February 2, 2022, 9:36 PM