Since late August, poets Anja Rockel and Laura Mijnders have each been following their own seal at the Wadden Sea World Heritage Centre (WEC) in Lauwersoog: Anja follows Addie, Laura follows Kiko. Every week they exchange experiences and fill each other in. When one of them is away, the other keeps an eye on both seals.
Laura describes their first meeting: ‘After a tour by Marco from the WEC, we finally stand in front of the window of the pool where our seals live. I hold my breath.’ At first glance, Addie and Kiko seem alike, yet they’re not: ‘Addie is the cheerful clown who lies on the shore pulling funny faces. Sometimes it looks like she’s eating something disgusting, it makes me think of a small child’s face. Kiko is a bit more relaxed.’ She calls the two ‘two individuals of a species that is naturally solitary. If you see them lying next to each other like this, snout to snout, you wouldn’t think it.’
By now, Kiko and Addie are no longer sharing a pool. Kiko swims with three other seals in a different pool and is, in Anja’s words, ‘very social and cuddly.’ Addie, meanwhile, swims mostly alone, ‘like a rocket practice to eat alone.’
That first week, Laura also learned something remarkable: seals can be trained to ‘talk,’ although at the WEC this is deliberately not done, as it could hinder their return to the wild. ‘Talking with a seal,’ she writes, ‘what a beautiful title for a book.’
Anja, meanwhile, is working on more visual observations: alongside words, also lines – ‘Addie’s swimming movement as a line’ and ‘a mapping of the dots on his belly while sunbathing.’ She writes that she has increasingly started noticing the people around the seals too: ‘I begin to care for the caretakers. Who are they?’ Out of appreciation for the WEC team, Anja (also on Laura’s behalf) baked a quiche for them this past week, with a thank-you note attached.
Until 4 October, Anja and Laura will continue following their seal. Their observations form the basis for two poems that will be presented this autumn, in collaboration with literature festival Meet Me at the Lighthouse.
