8. The Harp Seal's Necropsy
The Harp Seal’s Necropsy
In the stomach of the seal they found a load
of coins: only even odder:
every one was damaged in some way, or came from
the adjacent country: some were just slugs
of lead, or other soft metal,
stamped with the outline of some old-country queen
but wrong, like four praying hands
Some of these coins had holes as if to string
on a caribou sinew, some notched round the edge
to no discernible end
Killing the seal by feeding it worthless crap: but first
carefully gathering all that crap, present
to your chief perhaps, and see it rejected, or lain
on the altar, or quietly poured
into an ice hole, a desperately flawed mass
to the goddess of hunting plenty
My pups: there are plenty of ice holes in life
Contamination with fake,
useless bounty gets you nowhere fast
Let go of it safely: I’ll bring
the hunter one perfect bearded bivalve,
scallop with warm earth eyes like his own
In the stomach of the seal they found a load
of coins: only even odder:
every one was damaged in some way, or came from
the adjacent country: some were just slugs
of lead, or other soft metal,
stamped with the outline of some old-country queen
but wrong, like four praying hands
Some of these coins had holes as if to string
on a caribou sinew, some notched round the edge
to no discernible end
Killing the seal by feeding it worthless crap: but first
carefully gathering all that crap, present
to your chief perhaps, and see it rejected, or lain
on the altar, or quietly poured
into an ice hole, a desperately flawed mass
to the goddess of hunting plenty
My pups: there are plenty of ice holes in life
Contamination with fake,
useless bounty gets you nowhere fast
Let go of it safely: I’ll bring
the hunter one perfect bearded bivalve,
scallop with warm earth eyes like his own