Save the Tiger

The missing eyes and open entrails of the dead tiger were full of maggots and flies, but we, starving for days, brushed them aside to dig our hands into the guts of this other endangered species for whatever we could grab, yank out, suck the bloody gore off of, chew the sweet meat and later, crunch on the bones. As she has taught us.

E. Martin Pedersen, originally from San Francisco, has lived in eastern Sicily for over 35 years. He teaches English at the local university and has published numerous academic articles. His fiction has appeared in Hinchas de Poesia, Here Comes Everyone, CURA Magazine, Literary Orphans, Trop Magazine and others. Martin is an alum of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers.