Pinguinus Impennis

Large, flightless, and defenseless,

the great auk was captured

for feathers for featherbeds—

hunters loosening the plumage in cauldrons

fueled with the oil

from the freshly killed auks before them.

After the 1830 volcanic eruption in Iceland, after

museums and collectors vied for the near

extinct "penguin of the North,"

in 1844, the last pair was beaten to their deaths

and their solitary egg dashed on the rocks of Eldey Island.

Could we not sleep on straw or goose down?

What dreams are worth such extinction?

And are they dreams I'd wish to own?