Featured Poem

The Whales

For two days we have climbed up here to watch
the whales high up on these basalt cliffs.

For two days I have been held still –
captivated, awake.

And on the beach below they are all holding still.

And the couples in their kayaks, bouncing in the waves
have stopped paddling to watch.

And the fishing boat heading so quickly out to sea
has now slowed, nets and cages
on pause until the whales pass by.

And up in the air the calf rises white and gray,
belly flashing before the crash, while we
all open our mouths in a collective awe.

Outside of this moment we are imploding in
on ourselves. Moving so quickly
we cannot see our own destruction.

And this ocean is so vast.
And the waters so deep.
We were not meant to become so complacent.

The whale’s plume reaches into the wind,
and now the fin and now the tail.

We are -
I am -
capable of so much violence.

See how even now I write these words with a bold
stroke and a sharpened pen. I cannot fool myself
into believing I am all softness and peace.

I am complicit in all that is shattering
around me. Like the monks of old
I press my back into the sharpened stones,
to stay alert, to stay awake,
to remain uncomfortable.

And to beg forgiveness from even the whales.

No matter how many times I try to adjust
my sore legs and aching knees I will
still be responsible for some others pain,
and this truth keeps me human.

As do the whales.

And our ability to hold still while
these magnificent creatures breach and hunt
off the point, holds the tiniest kernel that
we might somehow learn how very lost we are.

 San Juan Island July 2020

About this poem:

I wrote this poem while visiting friends on San Juan Island in Washington State. For days we had climbed to the point high up on the rocks to watch for whales. Finally on the third day they appeared and time seemed to suspend as we all watched in awe. The pandemic was sweeping across the world and we had no idea how much it would change everything, or the amount of loss that would accompany its waves.

As we watched the whales I was struck by how something in nature could bring us all to a shared experience of wonder while so much else in our world seemed to be tearing apart. Now four years later it seems that not much else has changed, we may have come through the pandemic but we are still plagued by violence, disagreement, and vitriol which threatens to overwhelm my sense of hope. And yet I refuse to believe that we cannot still find our way. This poem speaks to that kind of hope and the agency we all have to be part of moving towards a more loving and just future together.