Somewhere
in the protective bays of Canada & Alaska,
whale mothers
have been making contact.
And this is odd for two reasons:
One, because this is the time of year
when the whales come into the bays and coves
of the inside passage to calve, and previously
this had been when they were most reclusive.
And two, because they are whales, and previously
had been generally indifferent to our culture and presence.
Reports are emerging:
fishermen and boats lifted
out of the water, with whale all around, everywhere- the Native Americans
used to call them the “floating land;”
impossibly enormous eyes breaking
the surface so slowly, one after the other, the whale researchers
looking at themselves quivering in the black mirrors,
for the longest minutes of their lives.
What do they want? What are
whale mothers saying?
We do not know, because they are whales
and we are people. And we can only
stare at one another.
