The whale is beached again,
Has he no sense
of direction?
Is he clinically
depressed? Gulls
flap close
and closer to his eyes,
inspecting
the vitreous
humor. Sandpipers dance
on the strand,
annoying as
sleep-deprived toddlers.
He will miss
the various
colors of the seas,
the mating,
the krill
cuisine, hunting
gigs, the sheer
clown joy
of rising up
in a column
& twisting
back down like a gold
medal diver.
No
compassionate humans
show up
with winches
and cranes. This is
how they find
him, fallen
on the sand,
lonely
as my mother was
propped against
a wall, her eyes
wide open.
Elisabeth Murawski is the author of Heiress, Zorba’s Daughter (May Swenson Poetry Award), Moon and Mercury, and three chapbooks. Still Life with Timex won the Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize. Alias Irene will be published in August, 2025. A native of Chicago, she currently lives in Alexandria, VA.
