Thursday, October 4, 2018

The Whales of Detroit

Ask anybody at a bus stop or down by the river--
there aren't any whales in Detroit.

It's lies.

I hear them all the time.
On Woodward Avenue, whales.
At John King books, whales down every row of shelves.
At the Old Mariners' Church, whales in the bells.

You are so thin, so sad.
I look at the great scarred heads of the whales and think of you.
In the aging overhanging trees beside the crack houses, whales. 
Under the 8 Mile Road overpass, whole pods of whales.
In your eyes, the sea
and the coiled rope of our pasts which holds the harpoon. 

There are whales in Detroit.
There is me, with my long hair tucked inside the collar of my pea coat.
From my hair I hear the waves.
There is you, outside a pawn shop between Hubbell and Greenfield,
giving the monkey a Nantucket sleigh ride. 
There is salt spray on my face,
and you, far out on the horizon, spyhopping,
then nodding for the deeps like all the rest--the whales of Detroit. 
_______

for this.

15 comments:

  1. A lament that pierces the heart...all the endangered things, all the ghosts of our past loves, past selves, so thin and sad...standing around us, trying to make us feel them...beautiful,Shay, and full of a delicate diminishment, like the sound of bells dimming to silence behind as one walks farther and farther into darkness.

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  2. "The coiled rope of our pasts which holds the harpoon." What a fantastic sentence. We all remember those harpoons. I love the idea of whalesong in all those places in the city and especially love the idea of the person, out at sea, spyhopping, then diving for the depths. Sigh. THIS is BEAUTIFUL. Wow! The whales themselves would love it.

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    1. It occurs to me, for I am still thinking of this amazing poem hours later, that the spyhopping being is, of course, a whale, so thin and sad. One of the most amazing poems I have ever read.

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  3. I really love the last two stanzas - the imagery is outstanding and it just speaks with such depths, of fractures and loss, and how people, relationships, can flounder, sour etc.

    And damn, I'm just loving this image: There is me, with my long hair tucked inside the collar of my pea coat.
    From my hair I hear the waves.

    this just rocks it - literally, for the words, and I see this "mythic/heroic heroine" who is equally bruised and ghostlike, who is being rocked, cradled - both in a harder, rough aspect, and yet a soft, saviour, womb-like aspect, if that makes any sense.

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  4. Wow Shay. This is incredible. Yes there are whales in the hardest places, the lost, the hungry, the sad...thin and hungry. Such an outstanding metaphors for the orca off the coast of BC

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  5. I love this, shay! Especially:
    'I look at the great scarred heads of the whales and think of you.
    In the aging overhanging trees beside the crack houses, whales'
    and
    'In your eyes, the sea
    and the coiled rope of our pasts which holds the harpoon'.

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  6. This impresses me so much. How did you come up with this? My favorite line: At the Maritime Cathedral, whales in the bells. Peculiar and haunting.

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  7. What a whale of a poem for us to read and enjoy. The ghosts of the whales telling us what fools we humans are.

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  8. One can almost put Detroit herself in the “you” in this poem - a city that has taken quite a hit and is struggling to come back. As always clever word phrasing and full of atmosphere.

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  9. I don't know why I think of this as a harpoon shared between father and daughter but I do. As the space of memory and the sea and the whales crashing there. Tight as a rope to a thing lost long ago. Loved it.

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  10. In your eyes, the sea
    and the coiled rope of our pasts which holds the harpoon...

    The metaphor is so finely delivered, Shay, A most beautiful piece of scrimshaw, in its own right.

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  11. This is excellent... the whales are everywhere... reminds me of the flying whales in Fantasia 2000... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EBy1lBXgtE

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  12. of course. it's a matter of course and you mapping them out for us to see the whales. And, it's free!? Thanks for writing this

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don't be stupid.