Taming the Wild Beast by Sharon Waller Knutson

In the skillful hands and feet

of the six-foot tall teen,

the Artic Cat roars and screeches

like a ferocious feline defending

its cubs against a fanged wolf

as it races past poplars lining

the lush lawn landscaped like a park

and the fields filled with boulders

and potholes deep enough to bury

a possum and a peccary.

But when I - his grandmother –

who refuses to ride the rapids,

rollercoasters and ziplines –

step into the cage, the big cat

purrs and leaps on lithe legs

gracious as a gazelle

as my Mustang never bucked

or strained at the bit when as a baby

he was buckled in the back

because even wild beasts know

when they are carrying precious cargo.

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Sharon Waller Knutson is a retired journalist who lives in a wildlife habitat in Arizona. She has published several poetry books including My Grandmother Smokes Chesterfields by Flutter Press and What the Clairvoyant Doesn’t Say and Trials & Tribulations of Sports Bob forthcoming from Kelsay Books. Her work has also appeared in various journals most recently in One Art, Mad Swirl, Gleam,, Spillwords, Muddy River Review, Verse-Virtual, Your Daily Poem, Red Eft Review and The Song Is…