This week, poet friends, we are contemplating whales, and other wonders.
Not only are whales extremely intelligent, magnificent and awe-inspiring creatures, the biggest whales
store more carbon in their bodies than trees! Amazing. Nature’s
design is beautiful and interconnected. If only we humans understood this
better.
Whales are having a difficult time surviving now,
between warming seas, the impact of climate on the plankton they need to survive, and
ship traffic. The noisy boat engines hurt their ears, which interferes with their echolocation, their means of navigating and finding food. Sometimes boats collide with whales, causing injury and death. Here on the west coast of Canada, orcas are endangered, with
only 74 whales left in the southern
resident pod.
I live on a whale highway. Grey whales pass by Tofino in great numbers every spring, on their migration from the birthing grounds in Baja, to the feeding grounds along this coast all the way up to Alaska.
Some of the greys stay here for the summer as residents. Occasionally there is one, called a “friendly”, who becomes accustomed to visiting whale watchers. Sometimes one will approach the excursion boats, and interact with the awed passengers, a blessing and a wonder. There are regulations requiring boats to keep a distance away from whales, but when one of them approaches a boat, it is the whale’s choice. Boats turn their motors off when in feeding bays, or as soon as they spot a whale in the area. Drifting in a zodiac puts one at the same level as the whales, so you sometimes get an up close and personal encounter.
Once a grey whale dove right beside the boat I was in,
thrilling me to my toes. When you look into a whale’s eye, it is like gazing at
the eye of God. Their breath is ancient – they are of another world than the
one we inhabit – one infinitely wiser and more attuned to nature. They have high
intelligence, and I am amazed that they are still willing to be friendly to
humans, after we have hunted and driven them nearly to extinction. But I believe
they can sense our energy, and maybe they only approach peaceful souls.
I once flew over the feeding grounds in Ahous Bay in a small seaplane and saw the gentle giants from above, a truly amazing sight, never to be forgotten.
A West Coast woman I met once, Alexandra Morton, has devoted her
life to whale research (and the fight to save the wild salmon stocks the orcas need
to survive.) She lives in the Broughton Archipelago, among the resident pods.
She tells a story of the night she was out in her boat and a thick fog came in,
so dense she couldn’t find her way to her dock. Out of the mist, a pod of orcas came,
surrounding her boat. They guided her right to her dock, then silently swam
away. They knew she was a “friendly.” I love this story so much, as it shows the
intelligence and compassion of these amazing creatures.
The videotape above captured an amazing situation in False Bay, off the coast of South Africa some months ago. A mother whale was giving birth, and sharks were gathering to take her calf. Suddenly hundreds of dolphins came and thrashed around the mother whale in circles to keep the sharks away. They stayed with her until she and her baby were safe.
Amazing. Mind blown. Wonders.
So today, we will contemplate whales, in all of their
majesty, beauty and other-wordliness. I can’t wait to read your poems about
this creature I love so much!
OR
You may prefer to write with a wider lens, about the ocean or whatever body of water you live close to. You might be concerned about the effects of the climate crisis on the lives of water creatures.
OR
You might have a story about a creature helping a human, or another creature, as in the stories above.
Go in whatever direction these topics lead you.
Please visit your fellow poets and try to check back for those who link later in the week. I love reading your responses in all your different voices.
