Two Poems
John Glenday, 31 October 2002
after G.W. Steller
These beasts are four fathoms long, but perfectly gentle. They roam the shallower waters like sea-cattle
and graze on the waving flags of kelp. At the slightest wound their innards will flop
out with a great hissing sound, but they haven’t yet grown to fear mankind:
no matter how many of their number might be killed, they never try to swim away...