Whale Jumping
It makes no sense, of course,
that whales leap out of the water,
though it could be as the scientists say:
they do it while courting—
something extravagant to impress
the fluky female—or to make a point
which the younger rival is not likely
to forget, or just for the sheer joy
of jumping out of the water when you weigh in
at 72,000 pounds of hot, quivering flesh.
What? To go charging up out of the murky, cold,
sagging flood that tugs at every nerve end,
to break through the wind-tipped waves,
and curve into the dazzling air,
belly turned upward to the sun—
one instant—in the sun…
I’d do that, too, if I were a whale,
I’d do that, too.