Friday I drove to Race Point where Right Whales have been feeding for more than a month. I just went for the drive, the beach. As I made my way down the sand, I heard a couple begin to exclaim. Whales, I asked? Yes, indeed. Kindly lending me their binoculars, they pointed, I peered but saw nothing but white caps. The blue was extraordinary, a deep aquamarine tinted by three o’clock sun, and the white was vivid. Handing back the borrowed lens, I watched from the beach, encouraged by the courteous pair. And there it was, a dark smokey plume of spray, signalling Whale! I saw many such plumes, my first sightings since I moved here, and I was ecstatic. I watched, until it got too cold for me, and I turned to head back. I thought of Stanley Kunitz and his Wellfleet Whale, and Adrienne Rich, whom we lost a few days ago. Many more people had gathered, and every so often, I turned back, to see another soft spray of air blown exuberantly into the air, as if to say, we are here, here we are.
Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich, read by Anne Waldman, NYC,5.23.2009.
Love your photo and post about your whale sighting. While on a whale-watching boat off Cape Cod, we were thrilled by a whale who kept diving under the boat and coming up on alternate sides.
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I hope you return to Cape Cod! Happy Earth Day!
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Love whales. Saw them off coast of Ventura at Christmas time. Really moving even though I’ve seen them before. Not something to miss.
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I love the doublefull replies–thanks, Jerrie. Computers & sign-ins. But then, yes, there are whales!
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Saw whales off coats of Ventura at Christmas time. Not first time I saw them but every time seems remarkable. How is it that we forget the world is full of wonderful creatures like whales?
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Breathtaking. Beautiful.
Thanks for poet-links. I learn so much from your blog.
Your whale-siting brings back warm memories of a children’s book I read just last summer. “Night Birds on Nantucket” by Joan Aiken. The heros are 2 girls, Dido Twite and Dutiful Penitence; Nate, a cabin boy; and a pink whale, who loves Captain Casket, the haunted father of Dutiful, who couldn’t remember if his beloved pink whale was real. She was!
Maybe Gaya would like that book.
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It sounds like she might. Thank you as always, Di.
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