Noëlle Janaczewska

Once upon a tiger

In 1936 the last captive thylacine or Tasmanian tiger died in Hobart Zoo. Although the species was declared officially extinct in 1986, rumours of sightings live on.

I’m a big mouth
nocturnal hunter, the price on my stripy arse.
I’m the mystery in the mirror
last light lifting,
Now you see me—
now you don’t.

I’m a curious beast
cautionary tale, like a dog but not a dog.
I’m the piss on the rock
flash in thin air
Now you see me—
now you don’t.

Dripping fog and shadow-shaped
through fern and eucalypt, a loaded metaphor.
There’s no view of the island
without me
I am still—
Once upon a tiger
Once upon a rhyme
Come back tiger
Come back time.