Pelicans at a Fish-Gutting

Pelicans at a Fish-Gutting

Back-lit, pelicans' bill-bags are translucent,
Slither-slick on the insides, wrinkled
Without like scrotum-flesh. Some
Have fish-hook piercings, adorned
With lengths of line, and brass swivels;
A lead sinker donks against one's belly.

Another seems to burp, and voids
A smelly slurp of fish-white excrement.

One chokes on a fish-bone -- an occupational
Hazard -- and the fish-gobbler is snapped
About the mazzard with leather forceps,
Battered about the eyeballs. Each rejected fish
Sends their necks cazalying skywards,
And the gaggle descends on the remnant,
The great bills tweezering it away from yawling gulls
With ridiculous precision. Each swelling yawn
Poises itself with a resonant grunting,
And the unkempt wings tremble with
Anticipation. Fish guts fly through air,
And two pelicans string them out in a noisome,
Bloody tug of war, their bulged eyes ogling.

But once it is gulleted, they are all etiquette:
They shuffle themselves, prod the smallest
To the front, and gaze, as if on an altar,
Form an orderly, worshipful, expectant
Queue.

Poem by Giles Watson, 2011. 'Up There Cazaly' is a song about an Australian Rules Footballer (famed for his skill at leaping high in the air to catch the ball) with which nobody of Australian upbringing can escape acquaintance.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• pelicans
• Albany
• poem
• poetry
• bird

[GilesConradWatson]

Thank you - it is very cheering for me to read such a comment! Cazalying is a word I made up myself. It comes from the name of an Aussie Rules footballer who used to jump ridiculously high to catch the ball (I have never understood the enthusiasm for football, but it seemed to be just the right allusion to make here). Have a look at the song 'Up There Cazaly' on You Tube... And thanks again!

[Regusername]

That was great.

[andrewnorris2]

Your poems have an immediacy about them, which is half their charm, the other half is you capacity to choose such great words. I don't know what 'cazalying' means but I can guess. However, it is the shere joy of the sound of that word, as well as others, that peppers your writing with these little startling events. great writing.