May 18*

sometimes, rarely, i see them first
the black slice of dorsal
arcing powerfully through the surface

but more often it is by sound:
the whoosh of their blow
from a half mile away
the ring of craig’s phone call—whales!
or the circus oohs and ahs
from off the weekend decks

*Copyright 2010 by Luther Allen. This poem appears in The View from Lummi Island.
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photo by Capt. Jim Maya