Nature vs. Nurture

Madness. No.
Happiness is fleeting glints
called Moments
we had it all

going along, the way we rolled
dice, high and wide
and thought throwing our cubic weight
around displaced any

matter our way at all.
Red. I read it in black and white,
No. I saw an orca pass through,
rarely, winter in San Diego

so it was weird, and then I remember
they are more traveled than we
and speak louder
amongst themselves, miles away

intonation carries, not by volume
of course-migration.
This is the name we gave to travel
frequently, and holiday and cetacean

all of our conceptual ponds.

No. This makes sense.
We were just busy with containing
must and should, which we may need
to carry with us atop this

Madness. Spinning out of alignment.
Speed wobbles. Yes or No
should have been enough
for a firefly or bacteria to glow.



Painting by Johan Christian Dahl (1819) in [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Whaling the Friendly Seas

When it is clear-
                          ly right or wrong
We say it is-
                          black and white
Which means-
                          not both.

How can we be
                         both friend
and enemy
to our life bearing sea-
at the same time-
                          we are not both
but pretend
there's been no crime
committed
                          revenge goes unrequited.

And without captive breeding allowed anymore-
without cetacean sex-what has he to live for?

He thinks,
hope sinks.

Twenty calves sired
and an erect dorsal was all he ever desired.
At just thirty-five years old
a mere half-way, we're told
he's tired of sharing our air,
letting humans stare,
and dining on dead fish fare.
He's had enough-
living in a bathtub is rough.

Infected lungs with fatal bacterial growth
-we gave him both.
A souvenir
of our mortal fear.

It is black and white,
he has no friends or reason to fight.
Tilikum will die wrongly for our right
to take
and make
slaves of threats
(whales are not pets).
The killing goes both ways
until the last dying blows of Tilikum's days.

Orca playing with an iceball, Photo by Robert L. Pitman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Top image By Allen Shimada NOAA/NMFS/OST/AMD (NOAA Photolib Library) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

"With a name meaning friend in Chinook, killer whale Tilikum was captured near Iceland in November 1983 at around two years of age. By Martin Evans. 9:41AM GMT 26 Feb 2010. At 22 feet 6 inches long and weighing in at 12,300 pounds he is the largest orca in captivity."Feb 26, 2010