truck-stop-tiger-maggie-arace

at six months the tiger weans

tumbling and stumbling 

about in the grass 

of madhya pradesh

or maybe rajasthan

clinging to its mother

at six months, tony weaned

at the bars of his cage

tumbled in the salt and stink

of louisiana

stumbled and moaned at

his mother — Michael Sandlin

for them to go away

truck stop tiger, moaning away

its what they paid to see

roadside attraction

a modern Barnum — Michael Sandlin

he who took him here for those to gawk

sweaty sacks of Homo Sapiens — only survivors

of Homo genus

who used their tragedy on tony then

the tourists and passerbys

Panthera genus

is at two — being whittled down

to Homo’s numbers

it makes them feel better

about themselves

to get other animals 

down to their levels

of genus

if Homo Erectus

survived today

would they care

or is my tangent

a sign of neglect

at tony’s neglect

i cannot give him his dues

i don’t know his real name

maybe baagha 

or even holang-i once

at 16 years tony died

15 years and 6 months at the stop

normally tigers live 10 

or maybe 15

he is lucky

for having such a long life

so full

what do we — Homo have

without him

for the weekend

7% — what tigers have left

of their historical range

100%

1100%

88220% — i’m not sure

is what Homo has left