WHALE SONG (photomorph) & WHALE BOXING (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

WHALE BOXING

my mother was a whale boxer

they sing to me of how she’d dance
with them, floating like that famous Ali,
landing an occasional whale of a shot
to some cetacean’s nose who’d paused
barely long enough in a change of arc
for her to bring a roundhouse home,
make her point clear in a mighty
arabesque of a stretch

from what the whales whisper, these
underwater ballets were her creative work
at its best: they’d tumble with her, again and
again, sometimes in the shallows where they’d
risk notice by landlubbers, but mostly way
out at sea where she and the whales would
box, ringed by other disinterested marine
dwellers involved in their own exhibitions

my mother was a whale boxer
who died young for her love of that dangerous
dance, that urge toward a dark ballet that I
carry within as surely as she had once
carried me in an amniotic sea

yes, my mother was a whale boxer
and always will be,
until my last awkward swim
around the deepest of rings

[free verse poem on a dream of 3-1-19. The repeated line “my mother was a whale boxer” is verbatim from the dream… Omigosh!! I just now Googled about whale symbolism: “Whales are associated with compassion and solitude, and knowledge of both life and death. They are also associated with unbridled creativity. The exhalation through the blowhole symbolizes the freeing of one's own creative energies. Sound is also a creative force of life.” (quote is from Pure Spirit/animal symbolism) Photomorph “Whale Song” (7-28-09 4466v2h[3]) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

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until next time, keep dreaming,





[a/k/a Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”). Roswila's other blog (dedicated to her photos only, i.e. no poetry or other writing; daily post); TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.