The Paddock Review

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Whale Fall

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I thought I was done with you

until I heard the story of Tahlequah,

the orca whale whose silky calf

…..

lived only a few hours after its birth.

Tahlequah balanced the corpse

on her forehead and her back,

…..

kept it from sinking, and pushed it

for seventeen days and one thousand miles

through Puget Sound and the open sea.

…..

She lifted the body as it sank—

hundreds of times—hoisting it

out of the water to take a breath.

…..

When at last she released her calf, the carcass

sank to the sea floor—whale fall—

fare for scavengers in the dark.

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I have carried my grief as Tahlequah

carried her dead calf, determined

not to let go. Pushing it to the surface

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when it drops down. When

will I let it fall? Where might it settle?

My sea floor is a blanket of sand,

…..

smooth and abiding.

What creatures in my darkness

might flourish with the gift of release? 
                   

…………. –published in the Taos Journal, Fall 2023

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This poem is from the chapbook Eclipse (Finishing Line Press), and is available at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/eclipse-by-sarah-wolbach/

The poems in Eclipse illuminate the complicated history of a married couple over more than two decades. Reflecting both ambivalence and affection, the poems explore their early adventures and revelations and the eventual transformation of the relationship during the course of the husband’s decline and death. The final poems in the collection describe the wife’s journey through the aftermath of his passing.

Sarah Wolbach was a Michener fellow and holds an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin. She lived in Mexico for several years, and later in New York City. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Comstock Review, Dos Gatos Press, Taos Journal of Poetry, and Yalobusha Review. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.