A journal of art + literature engaging with nature, culture, the environment & ecology

Tigress

Sophia Naz, Glen Ellen, California

 

Hundreds of foot soldiers comb

the jungle, bulldozers

clear it, sharpshooters, jeeps

camera traps, a thermal imagery drone

and five Indian elephants

in hopes of surrounding the tigress

so veterinarians riding elephants

can dart her

 

Thirteen moons live in the eyes of the tigress

At night she multiplies them in the ripples

subtracts herself in the water

 

At dusk they return

sweaty and exhausted

line up to guzzle water

and gobble down jalebis

 

Mother who outstrips them all

from you I learn camouflage, the line

hiding within the line

as glass in plain sight

on the night-wet grass

 

Reports stack up

on a plastic table

in boxes for sightings

the answers are all the same:

Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil

 

Zigzag, eye, Elle

these scratches on the surface

denote untraceable

writ of the tigress

 Horse after horse

sacrificial bait to draw her

out she rips

devours, vanishes

 

The feat of the line

the line of the feet

disappearing race-

course of time.

 

Pushcart Prize nominee Sophia Naz has published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Her work includes the poetry collections Peripheries, PointillismDate Palms and Shehnaz, a biography. Open Zero, her  fourth poetry collection, was published  by Yoda Press in September 2021.  

Visit her at her website: www.SophiaNaz.com

Tralanis

after images