As I walked on the sandy, dusty trail
I could hear the little ones cry
like a baby cries for its milk
and the older ones growl
like an old fat man
trying to get out of bed in the morning

As I walked closer
I could see big nosed elephant-colored torpedoes
sleeping on the sand, resting
after their hard work mating
hibernating for their whole new journey
to a refrigerator full of ice

I saw one looking at me
with round, black, teary marbles
like a sad puppy looks at its owner
when it is not taken for a walk

Some just scratched their 5000-pound bodies full of lard
with wounded chests showing off their masculinity
and many like sardines in a can together
eyed me with mean disturbing looks
wanting to get up and slap me with their flippers

They will be going away in the spring
but they will come back again next year
to once again repeat their life cycle
I'll probably go visit them again too

The Elephant Seal Harem:
Gennesis Gastilo

Sisterhood surrounded by aching masculinity
Surfacing to feed to breed and multiply
In vast waters the tumult extends.
The only strength to sense predestined:
promiscuity and diving.

And drenched with none but fertile femininity
Carrying seed and creed and self, I
Peer curiously over waves of grunts
And wonder at the complexities-
the simple, the thriving.

Torn between beliefs outstretched toward infinity
I, one to need and heed reasons to exist; inside
That harem, selfless selfishness
Unpurposefully perpetuating life-

Abundant in its graceful and awkward evolution
Who am I to criticize-
they're only just surviving.