Leslie Hodge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Johannesburg  

                                    Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
                                    – William Blake

 

Tigers, raised to sell as pets,
or bred for bone to grind and flavor
bowls in the distant Orient.

My daughter tells me, a tiger escaped
in Johannesburg. She’ll be there soon,
and in her many preparations,
this amber-eyed animal did not figure.

Johannesburg, ten million souls
worried by crime, blackouts, fires.
A tiger loose? That risk seems small—
but tell that to the man who was mauled,
bitten and bloodied, lost his dogs.

Escaped, the tiger reeks of musk,
orange stripes dimmed by dust.
On dread feet, he roams alone
on the lions’ continent.

In a breath, I journey back in time
   to when I held you, daughter,
      in my two open palms.

Don’t tell me you don’t see me
   with your days-old eyes.
      Don’t tell me you don’t smile.

The tiger pads on silent paws
along Johannesburg boulevards.
A fire burns bright in his eyes.
Capture him before she arrives.

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Leslie Hodge lives in San Diego. Her poems appear in Catamaran Literary Reader, The Muleskinner Journal, The Main Street Rag, South Florida Poetry Journal, ONE ART, Whale Road Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, and elsewhere. Her debut chapbook, Escape and other poems, was published by Kelsay Books in 2024. Currently she is reading for The Adroit Journal. www.lesliehodgepoet.com