Seal Play

In and out
Endlessly figure eighting
Around and through bone white supports
Nipping at red dangling flesh
Chasing one another
Barking in playfulness

Hide and seek
Hiding behind the heart
Or maybe the liver
Giggling behind a flipper
Covered in melting blubber

Sliding down the spine
Which makes a xylophone noise
As seal skinned bottom
Bounces down the chines

It's a Warner Brothers cartoon
It all started at noon
On the Saturday
Before last

Now half eaten and buried in the sand
Mostly bones, entrails and skin flaps
Are all that still stand
As monument to this great whale beast
Stranded upon the land

A seal herd has set up camp
Stamping their flippers in the sand
Barking their approval
At this unexpected playplace
A seal play palace
Playing as hard as they can

One sliding on slippery insides
Down the center of the carcass
A macabre slip and slide of glee

Another hanging from rib cage
Monkey bars for flippered feet
Hanging inches above the ground
Defying perceived seal-ness
Splashing about in this here whale mess

Then it was gone
On the second monday after the first
The dawn after a wailing storm

The seals came down from their sleeping place
Above the beach in the grass
To find their playground deserted
No equipment
Just a flat damp expanse

Without a hesitation
Without a barked quibble
They moved as one group
To the surf and beyond
Chasing the rumor
Of a washed up school of blue fin
Just like a pack of barking sea dogs
Hot on the scent of something new and stinky to roll in