Sonnet for a Baby Seal<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Not the one you see on television,
\nHead tilted up to look like a whiskered
\nInfant, those pleading, liquid eyes . . . this one
\nWas real, on black Alaskan sand, ridiculous
\nWith an eagle beating its wings against
\nThe seal’s head, both screaming, the pup too young
\nTo get away, too old to die at once.
\nThe eagle, talons buried, pecked at one
\nEye only, to force a way in. Of course
\nI beat the eagle off with driftwood.
\nYes, I tried to kill the baby seal. No one
\nCould say I didn’t try hard enough.
\nBut when I turned to leave, it swam away,
\nBlinded, silent, bearing news from Hell.<\/p>\n
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“Sonnet for a Baby Seal” is reprinted from Ourself<\/em> (Gribble Press. 2011).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dennis Held<\/a> received his BA from The Evergreen State College,<\/a> and his MFA from the University of Montana, where he was awarded the Academy of American Poets prize. He lives in Spokane,<\/a> and teaches in a writers in the schools program for Eastern Washington University. His work has appeared in Poetry<\/em> magazine, Alaska Quarterly Review,<\/em> and many other journals. His first book of poetry, Betting on the Night,<\/em> <\/a>was published in 2001 by Lost Horse Press, and his second collection, Ourself,<\/em> was published in 2011 by Gribble Press.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sonnet for a Baby Seal Not the one you see on television, Head tilted up to look like a whiskered Infant, those pleading, liquid eyes . . . this one Was real, on black Alaskan sand, ridiculous With an … Continue reading