Imaginary Cosmogony

Planetary Influences



1.

Jupiter

Jupiter, who shields the Earth from whiplash,
cosmic hit-and-run
by random comets, opportunist
asteroids and meteors,
occupies a special place in whale cosmogony -
Jovian transposed to space,
surrounded by a lunar pod,
milling new-born calves who travel
close beside their archetype,
emulating orbits of cetaceans across isobars.


2.

Europa

Europa is the sperm whales' icon -
goddess in sea's ice-embrace,
captive moon to Jupiter's titanic orb,
her secret safe.
She understands their hidden world,
the enigmatic ways of those
whose soundings navigate Earth's poles,
plumb ocean's depths and freezing wastes.


3.

Moon

The Moon, who governs tides and ocean-currents
and illumines waves,
lends subtle beams of quicksilver as camouflage
when danger looms,
helps the harried and pursued elude
the predators' harpoons…

She is the sister-satellite of voyagers and odyssies,
inspiring sagas, dramas, polyphonic
songs, and reverie -
the incandescent muse of night to melancholy
Humpback males…


4.

Mars

Associated with the secret
rites and cults of Ancient Rome,
sacred to the Order of the Dolphin,
and its mystic home,
red planet of Olympus Mons
and telepathic mysteries,
Mars still exerts its magnetism
on the mammoths of Earth's seas.


5.

Earth

As for Earth, birth-mother
whose protective instincts never fail,
she weeps each time her children bleed,
she grieves for every stricken whale…