Poem: "Silent Tide": ysabetwordsmith

Poem: "Silent Tide"

Recently I started tracking reports about a tremendous increase in dolphin fatalities in the Gulf of Mexico, especially dolphin calves from the current birthing season (the first after the Deepwater Horizon disaster).

Then I found a Facebook post from Boycott BP with this remark: "This video shows you the passion Dolphins have for their young. Imagine what the Dolphin mothers in the Gulf are suffering through this calving season." The link goes to this video from several years ago. As more recent articles also point out, dolphins are not indifferent to death but become agitated when a pod member dies, and often make vigorous efforts at revival.

That got me thinking about what the situation would be like from a delphine perspective. The following poem emerged. I decided that posting it here would be a good contribution to the cause. Because some of us look at the mess the Gulf is in, and feel like we ate the talking stag.

Silent Tide

The dolphin calf weakens and falls behind,
soft chirps fading as the mother
doubles back.

A last gasp flecks the sea breeze with pink foam
as the calf sinks beneath the waves,
relatives crowding close

with desperate love that bruises unresponsive flesh
as they bump the limp baby toward the surface
again and again

until the pod stops crying long enough
to hear the echoing silence
that fills the small body.

Hours have passed before the grieving pod can accept
that their little one is gone beyond their reach
and they swim inward with the tide

leaving the cool blue corpse upon the sand
in a silent accusation:
why?

cflute

February 24 2011, 06:41:51 UTC 10 years ago

New comment

Beautiful. Chilling. Almost seems to want to be set to music. Brava!

Thank you!

ysabetwordsmith

February 24 2011, 06:49:21 UTC 10 years ago

I'm glad you appreciated this poem. Actually, someone did take "Surface Tension" and set it to music; that's a poem I wrote about whales and humans, about the gulf of understanding between species that are alien to each other. So I think this one would work too.

rhodielady_47

February 24 2011, 06:58:09 UTC 10 years ago

Anybody who thinks the Gulf of Mexico is back to normal is a fool.
Crude oil, such as that which leaked out from the oil well, is FULL OF TOXIC CHEMICALS. Those chemicals are slowly but surely getting into the food chain down there and it will probably take several more years before the full horror of it really begins to show itself.
My degree is in Biology and I have a minor in Chemistry. I now refuse to eat ANYTHING that comes from the Gulf of Mexico nor will I let my Hubby eat it. Oh heck, if I had meat-eating pets, I wouldn't feed them anything with seafood in it either. That's how bad I think it is.

Kind of makes you wonder how much BP is spending to keep all of this information under wraps, doesn't it?
:\

Yes...

February 24 2011, 07:26:02 UTC 10 years ago

>> Anybody who thinks the Gulf of Mexico is back to normal is a fool. <<

I agree. Very shortly after the slick was announced, I compared it to previous incidents and predicted a large-scale disaster. It was ... bigger than I anticipated, though. I guess the universe decided it needed to create a bigger and better idiot.

>> Crude oil, such as that which leaked out from the oil well, is FULL OF TOXIC CHEMICALS. Those chemicals are slowly but surely getting into the food chain down there and it will probably take several more years before the full horror of it really begins to show itself. <<

I figured that contact illnesses would appear shortly (they have, and are continuing), a sharp spike in birth defects within a few to 10 years (looks like it's hitting animals already, and I'm starting to hear a few reports about humans), cancers and other chronic illnesses around 10-20 years, etc. Somewhere around 20-25 years people will look back and, if the matter has not been swept entirely under the rug, conclude from the reeking heap of data that BP harmed or killed a great many people and demolished much of the Gulf of frigging Mexico.

Some of this is hitting harder and faster than I expected. I probably didn't factor in enough padding to account for the Corexit and overwhelming volume. Next time (and there WILL BE a next time, now that our government has officially decided to ignore this extremely expensive clue-by-four) someone breaks the ocean, I will know to be even more pessimistic with my predictions.

>> My degree is in Biology and I have a minor in Chemistry. I now refuse to eat ANYTHING that comes from the Gulf of Mexico nor will I let my Hubby eat it. Oh heck, if I had meat-eating pets, I wouldn't feed them anything with seafood in it either. That's how bad I think it is.<<

I wouldn't consider swimming in it for a decade or two, and eating out of it for at least that long or maybe ever. Which really sucks, because I have been down there and it's lovely territory with once-delicious seafood. However, I am delighted to see a degreed scientist voicing a similar opinion to my hobby-scientist conclusions.

>> Kind of makes you wonder how much BP is spending to keep all of this information under wraps, doesn't it? <<

... not as much as they are going to spend. I will happily raise awareness and their bill. If I had my way, BP would be disbanded for gross negligence and its assets sold off to pay for the damages. Let some other slightly less imbecilic oil companies take over the market share.

Re: Yes...

February 24 2011, 08:56:01 UTC 10 years ago

I forgot to say this earlier--that was a beautiful poem you wrote about the dolphins.
What's happening to them makes me even madder.
:{

February 24 2011, 09:02:58 UTC 10 years ago

I'm glad you appreciated the poem. Yes, the dolphin deaths make me angry too.

Re: Thank you!

February 24 2011, 09:05:37 UTC 10 years ago

I dearly loved My Friend Flipper back when I was a rugrat.
:]

arielstarshadow

February 24 2011, 13:02:32 UTC 10 years ago

The entire situation down there is awful and deplorable. I'm so sick of mega-corporations destroying this world with impunity - it's all the more disgusting and disheartening because their "leaders" don't even care.

sigh

February 24 2011, 23:54:48 UTC 10 years ago

Too true, alas. But corporate structure tends to select for a psychopath mindset ... and that's how psychopaths behave, like the rest of the world isn't real.