C. Desirée Finley

Some things you just know—like how to train a lion

The best way to train a lion is to look
At his face and then close your eyes
And then smile.

This helps the lion know you do not
Fear him and you do not want to hurt him.
It should be a ritual for dating.

The lion knows you are kind
If you are, and you should be kind
At all times.

If you slip and are
Mean even once, you should
Never put your head in his mouth.

Besides being kind, you should
Always wear the same outfit.
It should have the color blue.

Lions like blue and it reminds
Them of how much they like
The ocean.

Always reach out and touch his ear.
The left ear is best, and run
Your finger along the edge.

He’ll look at you but don’t
Look back. Pretend you don’t
See his glance.

It is best to wear boots with heels.
Lions are quite large and
you should be as big as you can be.

The most important thing is to love.
Your love lays down a path before
You even enter the ring.

Lions can pick up on that
As if it’s radio waves or
Something in the air.

C. Desirée Finley (Fin) is a fiction writer, poet and artist now living in western Mass. Her writing is featured in Straw Dog Writers Guild’s Pandemic Poetry, the Center for New Americans’ 2020 – 21 anthology and in Silkworm 14. In 2020 she was awarded 2nd place in Franklin County’s Poet’s Seat poetry contest. Fin was accepted into Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in 2018 for fiction. Her education, which began in art school, includes U Mass, Simmons Graduate School of Management (non-traditional student) and later at LaSalle University as an English major and writing fellow.