The Fate Of Tiger Rose (Incomplete) Poem by Bonnie Elizabeth Parker

BONNIE'S OWN POEM

01:
Yeah, she looks old and bent
And her years are spent
Walking the ''prison yards''
But once she was fair
With golden hair
Tho her eyes were some what hard

02:
Once she smiled
Like a carefree child
And back of the wreck that is her
Is the old old story
Of a woman's glory
And love for a ''no good cur''

03:
''Two Timer McColl''
Came West with his ''moll''
And his ''moll'' was ''Tiger Rose''
A woman of shame
Who played a hard game
Up stairs over ''Smokey Joe's''

04:
For she was the ''bait''
That laid in wait
For ''suckers''
With money to blow
On the ''Farris Wheel''
Run by ''Jack Pot O'Neal''

.....Missing Stanzas.....


''Jack Pot O'Neal''
At the ''Farris Wheel''
Makes a grab for a hidden ''gat''
''McColl'' let go
And ''Pat'' sags low
As the ''sub'' went ''rat-tat-tat''

.....Missing Stanzas.....

In court
She took all the blame
For she was the ''moll''
Of ''Two Timer McColl''
And she lost
At a ''crooked game''

END


Historical Note:

This poem was written by Bonnie as the third of ten poems into her First National Bank Of Burkburnett Texas bank book during her stay in the Kaufman County Jail in April May and June 1932. Hopefully the rest of this poem, contained in full in this bank book, will be made available at some stage in the future.

''The Fate Of Tiger Rose'' does not appear elsewhere and Bonnie probably let it rest because working in gambling joints was not the direction her gangster gal life took, but rather bank robberies which is the theme of ''The Story Of Suicide Sal''. Historically it is interesting to note that a boy who grew up living next door to Bonnie and was a year and a half older than her, was Herbert (The Cat) Noble, who later operated the Airmen's Club in Dallas. When Bonnie penned this poem she could not have imagined that the boy she had grown up next door to (Herbert) would be the ''Jack Pot O'Neal'' of the Airmen's Club upstairs over ''Smokey Joe's''.

Bonnie tells us in both ''The Story Of Suicide Sal'' and in ''The Fate Of Tiger Rose'', that she expects to be the loser in her life of crime.

She also tells us that she is anticipating from the outset that her 'thug boss' partners will not be loyal to her. Again developing from her fear of abandonment the need to anticipate that she will be 'played'. So in ''The Fate Of Tiger Rose'' Bonnie tells us this through the name she chooses for her 'thug boss', ''Two Timer McColl''. While in ''The Story Of Suicide Sal'' Bonnie makes her anticipation of disloyalty to her by ''Jack'' a central theme of the poem.

In both poems ''The Story Of Suicide Sal'' and ''The Fate Of Tiger Rose'', Bonnie clearly tells that she will always act in the best interests of her 'thug boss' and that her full loyalty will always be to her 'thug boss' and not to her 'employers', in these poems that is not to the bank nor to ''Jack Pot O'Neil''.


01:
Here, following the model of the poem ''The Street Girl'' (and as she also did in her poems ''The Story Of Suicide Sal'' and ''The Prisoner'') , Bonnie puts in a little of her 'self description', again with her negative self image 'her eyes were somewhat hard'.

02:
Once she was happy until she got abandoned by her ''no good cur'' husband Roy.

03:
Following abandonment by her husband Roy, Bonnie styles herself ''a woman of shame'' and tells us she ''plays a hard game''.

04:
Bonnie shows she accurately understands her feminine role as ''the bait'' and that her job is to use her feminine wiles to get suckers to blow their money.

Last Stanza:
Here Bonnie confirms that she understands the expectation of her, to if necessary, 'take the fall' for her 'thug boss' and tells us that she expects to ultimately be the loser in her life of crime.