32 Tiger

from Deb Stein. The tiger in question is no longer with us, I'm afraid.

For Lucky Tiger (CHP Kitten, Not Long for This World)

Little lucky tiger ain't so lucky as it turns out.
He's slow like the rest of us, and
like the rest of us can barely move but
in spastic little circles.

None of us tigers, as it turns out,
were very lucky either.
For months we circled the spastic spaz until
when we moved too close to the sides and
fell off the edge
a giant cardboard house caved in on us,
on our heads,
on our lame legs,
on our loved ones and on other lucky tigers.

That was really hard for some of us tigers—
when the last edge of the last lick
of cardboard set ablaze burnt down
the house, poor tigers who can't run at all!

But some tigers just kept right on keepin' on
keeping themselves toasty warm
in the hothot tiger wreckage,
skipping a beat and then not at all.