On bowride below gentle titans peep
ghost ships of the Pacific hunt and chase -
great barnacled seafarers of the deep
beneath the waves its clear blue waters grace.
Where yon an old boneyard whaling station
fluking bulls and cows breach the feeding pod,
and dive in fabled echolocation
bones of Ahab and wreck of the Pequod.
Yet still ghost ships the old hunting grounds scout
its mystic echo whalesong far reaching,
and still cavernous mouths unmade to shout
trap by moon and tide on remote beaching.
Let no harpoon or flense sound its death throes
and may long live the shout of “thar she blows!”.
Written: July 1992
vocalisation
sonar echolocation
natal pods socialisation
ORCA
He erupts from the water
in a triumphant roll, slicing
moist air with his black fins and tail,
disappearing once more in
an explosion of diamonds as salt spray
and sun
He arrives every year when this warm
bay is pregnant, giving birth to new stories
of survival and death
The epitome of orca, his warm-blood
intelligence maneuvers like a spirit
through the muscular restlessness of
heaving gray seas that are the waters of
his days, where he’s powerful and elusive
gliding through the ocean like the shadow
of a presence in the absence of light
where he’s fluid and flexible, always
solid and smooth, as if the structure of
stone might be hydrodynamic, somehow
shaping and shaped by the contours of
water curving over his body, carrying the
chatter of echolocation and revealing his
dorsal as a signature in black, that
gray whale and great shark, and all else
who might dare, know the orcas are
back, that the family of the
owner is in residence
once more
Emanuel Carter
Indus River Dolphins are listed as, endangered
and are only found in the lower parts of Indus River, Pakistan
They are believed to have originated, in the ancient Tethys Sea
when it dried up, about 50 million years ago, an antient discovery
They are one of four, river dolphin species and sub-species
and they spend all their lives, in fresh water rivers
They use echolocation to navigate, hunt and communicate
as they’re functionally blind, and adapted to muddy waters
Numbers have declined, because of human encroachment
destroying their habitat, with all this human development
building dams and barrages, that degrades their migration
and other threats are, bycatch, poaching and pollution
Red-handed-echo location -weapon
bouncing back and forth
off our minds
eating the metal
off our top shelves...
where the hell
are Santa's elves.
Oh well, this isn't so bad
no toilet paper
a silly mask
some dirty behinds
everyone's equally-beautiful.
This is the silver lining...
We will survive we've been through worse.
Will we be wise to the dirty flies
laying eggs on our meatocracy.
Maggots unleashed, there is no calm.
No such thing as free
Even the air can cost us everything.
Gold can be worthless if perched on a finger
and laid in the earth.
Unless poached by the grave digger
we need an infusion of peaceful things and peaceful beings.
Finally, after a millennium,
we've regained a wisp of wisdom
a dollop of humble.
the mirage of 2020 vision...
Now we see the black depths of our division.
We've looked at our souls from many sides.
Crushed the truth and exposed the lies,
as earth's jesters juggle rings of viral fire.
Fifty brittle stars so easily cracked
by five yellow barbs and a two faced rat.
and the echolocation of a wet market bat.
Donning the mask of ancient plagues,
only the wise can see the shimmering grace,
as now all the world looks much the same.
We're just graying-complacent children.
Ignoring ghost of our parents and grandparents...
"Never trust the red hand of a communist ogre
who tanks his people and crushes their vote."
20/20 contest
Etched on 5/22/20
Delightfully friendly dolphins can live for over forty years
Observe them swim with synchronised movements
Leaping out of the water in perfect unison
Prey such as fish and squid is found using echolocation
How I marvel when they ‘sky hop’ vertically out of the water
I recall the first time I saw one … it was re-runs of ‘Flipper’ on TV!
Noises made by dolphins sound like whistles and squeaks
Such social creatures they live in ‘pods’ with many other dolphins
Dolphins Contest
Sponsored by Julie Leigh Rodeheaver
2/04/18
Drowning in the ocean depths
I was sure to meet an untimely death
until an ocean angel lifted me up
I came back to life with a breathless gulp,
As he dashed through the sea I held on for life
until a tropical island was in my sight
I let go of his fin in the shallows
and treaded water for a little awhile,
I admired his dolphin bottle nose
and his echolocation squeak highs and lows
he was really quite extraordinary
intelligence in his mammal eyes I could see,
I swam the couple of feet to the shore
and looked to see if he was there anymore
amazingly it was as if he was saying goodbye
his clicks and squeaks almost causing me to cry,
With that he turned and leapt through the air
to meet up with his dolphin pod who all shared
the same lifeguard attributes that constantly amaze
all heaven sent mammals of the ocean waves.
12-30-17
Deep blue sea mammals
Cetaceans so grand
Its hard to believe
They originated on land
Dolphins, porpoises
Our many Whales
What ever size
Beautiful in sail
Toothed and baleen
Identifies them
Plankton feeders
Echolocation gems
To stop the hunting
It's a must
Protect the whales
In us they trust
To have a world
Where the whales have gone
All other species will think
It won't be long
" This poem is for Karen O' Leary and all other whale lovers "