Petroleum and Pelicans

December 7, 2025 Poet: Jack Wiens Artwork: Watchmen: Brown Pelican 2 by Claire Duncan

Petroleum and Pelicans

Just returning from three days on the coast

tide pooling and whale watching

with a marine biologist,

examining the tiniest of creatures,

each so different and delicate--then,

the largest animal on earth—a blue whale,

three times the length of our thirty-foot boat.

Walking into The Talent Gallery

I am immediately startled by the stare-down

of an intense brown pelican,

Claire Duncan’s Watchmen: Brown Pelican 2.

“Claire, how dare you connect

crude oil drilling rigs to this beautiful bird!

Refineries and feathers, oil and water,

Texaco and tides? Really?”

Well, as I said, I just returned from the coast.

Did I mention, my old Toyota got thirty-two miles

to the gallon…of gas?

Oh, and the blue whale was four miles offshore?

Our six hundred horsepower boat raced full-throttle

out and back so fast…a beautiful thing

…the whale, I mean, and the pelicans

gliding so gracefully across glassy waves.

So, what I meant to say, Claire, was,

“How very daring of you to paint

the ONE world we all live in…

the one with petroleum and pelicans.