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SARAH HEADY

Aegean

at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse
———————- –hostel
———————- –gift shop
there they are:

a stack of lighthouse keepers (“wickies”)’ hats——————-

——————-reading “AEGEAN”——————-

——————-& “Athens | San Francisco”—as if

——————-all seas were really one

bluely perched above the ocean
books & pelican plush——these
souvenirs——-of Pacific experience

(experience of: fenced-off lighthouse [under construction] & January cold)

earlier today we heard from Emma
(volunteer guide at Año Nuevo
beach) about how female
elephant seals—wintering here, —-giving birth while fasting
———then mating shortly after—basically gang-raped
en route to Alaska—
————————-conceive

then carry zygotes in their bodies
unimplanted, unbegun
at sea for months

perpetual mothers:—————-soloing————-fishing————fattening up
& technically not yet pregnant

until the fertilized egg finally
adheres to the uterine wall many weeks
post-coitus: gestation commences

Emma says———–“some people say
———————————————the egg is spinning in there all that time”
tumbling———orbiting———unready until
the seal is good & filled w / hagfish
——————————————————(“prey items” the visitor
——————————————————center poster called them)

now back at the hostel
decidedly not
buying these hats I am thinking

about how Pigeon Point was named for a ship
(the Carrier Pigeon)
——————————that wrecked here———far from home
—————————————————————————(Boston) ——-(nobody died)

the wood of the wreck subsumed into the San Mateo coast

& how all seas are really one, —–an unending
reproductive circus

everything ends up hanging around
& drifting &————–the thing you were asked to find
————–& nurture will make its way to you

when conditions are right