Whale Light, by Jim Minick

Liquid Curtain image from Born to Ice book featuring the photography of Paul Nicklen (Canada) contemporary. Image taken by author.

​Whale Light
               
The fluke is no fluke--
this happens all the time,
these miracle windows
we never look through
except this once.
 
Whale surfaced.
Whale breathed.
And now Whale returns
to that other world,
the long arc of sleek body
ending with this--
not a tail
but a window 
of water.
 
Made by velocity 
and liquid pouring 
over skin, the trailing 
skim is stained
glass without the stain, 
fragments of sky 
oranged by the gone sun--
it too having dove back down
to that other world.
 
The water window is not 
clear, has no mountains
or waves on the other side--
it is just light
with a frothy frame.
 
Already the liquid glass
is shattering back to sea.
 
What do we see
when we look through
whale light?
The world made bright
by a creature who 
knows dark
 
but that dark isn’t really
all dark or the only--
there are other windows
and other lights
for all to see.
 
Jim Minick

Jim Minick is the author of five books, the most recent, Fire Is Your Water, a novel. The Blueberry Years, his memoir, won the Best Nonfiction Book of the Year from Southern Independent Booksellers Association. His honors include the Jean Ritchie Fellowship and the Fred Chappell Fellowship. His poem “I Dream a Bean” was picked by Claudia Emerson for permanent display at the Tysons Corner/Metrorail Station. His work has appeared in many publications including the New York Times, Poets & Writers, Tampa Review, Shenandoah, Orion, Oxford American, and The Sun.