Wild Fridays #3: Thought Provokers

Orphan in the Forest 
Laos 2005

Abandoned on his search, the venturer
stumbles into some village where
children are playing with a tiger.
Found five years before, a lamb-
like cub bleating with hunger
her mother killed by poachers.

Most of the time she forgets she's a tiger
and pretends to be a cat.
She won't be naughty while we're here.
Don't touch. She's not used to strangers.
Taking the children at their word
he kneels and faces the carnivore
surprised by her soft pink nose
vulnerable like a toy.
Then the head snares him –
planetary huge with black stripes.

Most of the time she forgets she's a tiger
and pretends to be a cat.
She won't be naughty while we're here.
Don't touch. She's not used to strangers. 

Waves of symmetry pulse from
her eyes, a force field into which
he sinks as the world dissolves.
How long does he hang there before
being snatched from the depths by
a parent dwelling on the forest's edge?

Most of the time she forgets she's a tiger
and pretends to be a cat.
She won't be naughty while we're here.
Don't touch. She's not used to strangers.

By Tony Page
from Back to Earth
(Melbourne, Hybrid Publishers, 2019)


I've known Tony since the early days of the Poets Union in Melbourne and we've had a long friendship (as I described a few years ago at Poets United). But until a couple of Sundays ago we hadn't seen each other for 18 years! He lived and worked overseas a long time, and since being back in Australia has continued to do a lot of travelling – was back from Ethiopia only a few days before we met up – while I live in a smallish country town in another State. But I came to Melbourne for extended Christmas-New Year holidays to reunion with family and old friends, and we managed to make it happen.

We met at noon and talked almost non-stop until 4.30, through lunch at one cafe and afternoon tea at another, plus a trip to the State Library of Victoria. I spent a lot of time in this library in the past, but it's recently been renovated – very beautifully! –  and Tony thought, correctly, that I'd love to see it. This photo of him was taken in the main reading room. (It was hard to get him to smile for the camera instead of clowning, but I finally captured him looking amused at my efforts.)

He gave me a copy of his last book, the one from which I've taken this lovely piece. It's a book of traveller's tales, with acute observations of places and peoples, and interesting reflections. This poem is my favourite. You can see the photo of the actual tiger near the middle of the book cover. Yes, it's a true story and it was Tony himself it happened to. He is still amazed and enraptured that the animal allowed him so close.

But why is this post sub-titled ‘Thought Provokers’ rather than ‘I Wish I’d Written this’? (I do wish it!) Well, there’s a bit of a sub-text, isn’t there? While it can be read literally and works that way, it also raises questions about such things as the safety of the unknown, the reaction to strangers, etc. ... particularly in that little chorus, so sweet and then suddenly unsettling.

Knowing the poet, I’m sure any such inferences were raised intentionally, but I haven’t discussed the possible interpretations with him. I don’t think one need be too specific, but rather entertain various possibilities as, well, sub-text. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the poem.


Wild Fridays don’t usually involve prompts (though it has been known to happen, and could again) so usually there is no Mister Linky on Fridays. We do, however, welcome discussion. Please use the Comments if you would like to share your views, ideas and reactions.

Material shared in this post is presented for study and review. Poems, photos, and other writings and images remain the property of the copyright owners, usually the authors. I used my own photos in this article.