The Whale in the Sky

 

To live in a world where

the pale pearl of a cloud might

be filled with the shadow presence

of a whale,

 

swimming through the sky,

rising and falling in massive

flight, spouting cumulus from a cavern

mounted on its considerable frame,

 

and meanwhile, on the earth below,

only beautiful animals, no more slithering

creatures tapered at one end and filed

like knives on the other tip,

 

ready to cut us down, undulating

threats moving with soiled gleam.

 

On the Stalk

 

Silent orb resting

on a gum-pink quivering

base, waving side to side

 

like the arms of a crazed

fan during the World Series.

 

This appendage brings

to mind questions of how we

come to know the universe.

 

The sweeping finger, the lapping

dog tongue, the perusing

eye that travels a library?

 

Fragments of truth studded with

the remnants of perception?

 

Still yet is the question

of what we sense and its collision

with what really is.

JD DeHart is a writer and teacher.  He has a new book of poems, A Five-Year Journey, available from Dreaming Big Publications.