whether and what to think
whether and what to think
about our having the pinnipeds
we hunted down in our whaling days
now bagged tranquilized and released
with tragicomic electronics
glued to their heads
to perforce do the deep
diving work of gathering data
and amassing details
of what we have done
to Antarctica and the rest
while we sit in boats blind
otherwise to the world below
Nathaniel Lachenmeyer is a disabled author of books for children and adults. His first book, The Outsider, which takes as its subject his late father's struggles with schizophrenia and homelessness, was published by Broadway Books. Nathaniel has forthcoming/recently published poems in The American Poetry Review, Poetry International Online, The Berlin Literary Review, North Dakota Quarterly, and DIAGRAM. Nathaniel lives outside Atlanta with his family. www.NathanielLachenmeyer.com