ISSN 1758-6488
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Two poems Poetry |
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Augury
'So remarkable are [the whale's] mystic gestures, that I have heard… them declared akin to signs and symbols.'
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
Elected earlier this month into the college of augurs, you direct us
not to the sky but to that part of the ocean where there is surfacing
a great school of whales. We watch
filter-feeders rub up against the toothsome and listen
to the repeated song of the humpback, but soon the purpose
even to you seems unclear. There was the sea-battle of Drepanum,
the battle of Lake Trasimene… the birds ignored with disastrous results.
When the Admiral-General moves in, we're fearing for your safety.
But now there is a swooping and a lobtail and
it can only mean one thing – for which we are grateful,
since you can now remain with us, at least for another day.
