Exceptional I left my dart in San Francisco. Ode to the Captured Mountain Lion by Sis Cat Free Verse Poetry Contest contest entry

Puma, panther, cougar, catamount, mountain cat, mountain lion,        by whatever name you claim, by whatever number the game warden will name your GPS collar and ear tag once you awake from tranquilizers, how did you enter San Francisco?                                                                        Did you pussyfoot across the Golden Gate Bridge, like a fog-cloaked coyote?   Did you swim the currents below, like Shorty’s horse, Blackie, in ‘38? Or, more likely, did you roam from the hinterlands to establish your own homeland?   I can’t say I blame you for sneaking into the City. I’d live there myself if I could. Your kind inhabited this land long before mine. So, who’s invading whose habitat?          Now, you lie unable to wake, unable to stand,   before an open cage of exile, on the bed of a pickup marked Department of Fish and Wildlife.   Two darts pump Telazol into your rump. Your body spasms.   Your strapped paws twitch. Your hooded head drools. Cameras click: CAPTURED!   You appear almost human, like the condemned about to die in “Old Sparky.”   My sister-in-law in Prescott said, “If we found that mountain lion in Arizona, we’d shoot it.”   Count yourself lucky you live in a state that banned sport hunting of cougars,   and whose State Fossil is your ancestor, the saber-tooth cat.   When you awake, unhooded, GPS-collared, and tagged, you will range Crystal Springs        amid creeks instead of concrete, amid trees instead of trucks, amid mountains instead of mansions, and you will roam your new home away from our homes, and hunt deer instead of dogs, but we will track your freedom as long as you live.   Recognized Author Notes California Department of Fish and Wildlife captured a mountain lion in San Francisco on November 10, 2017. This sparked me to write three poems: "Nose Knows"; "In Ivy"; and my present poem. I still have six pages of leftover lines totaling 1,200 words, and I may write two more poems. Video KTVU. Image San Francisco Chronicle. Thank you for your review.

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