Lessons from an Orca: Grieving

Abstract

Lessons from an Orca:Grieving Andrew Alexander Mobbs (bio) She carries it delicately, carefully, by the fin, or on her head, so as not to make a mark on the tiny body of her calf that lived only half an hour. –Lynda Mapes, from the Seattle Times article "Orca whale continued grieving ritual for a sixth day on Sunday" In the North Pacific, deathon display: a funeral procession splitting the currents, creatures from land and sea inhaling the carcass, the big but not big enough body of a baby orca balanced supine on its mother's weary skull. The mother has given up chinook salmon forgrief, sings her dirge for any who will listen, singing the open wound of brevity, the malaise of already being endangered. Surely, she knows her baby is deceased, say the scientists, and she has her reasons for her actions, [End Page 102] but I cannot help but wonderhow swiftly reason can drown, how all things great and small are born to endure the salt. [End Page 103] Andrew Alexander Mobbs Andrew Alexander Mobbs is an Arkansas native currently based in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 2013, he released his debut poetry collection, Strangers and Pilgrims. His work has also appeared in Deep South Magazine, The Round, Bayou Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, and elsewhere. He was a 2014 Pushcart Prize nominee, and he co-edits the online literary magazine Nude Bruce Review. Copyright © 2019 Berea College