To a Hunchback Whale

To a Humpback Whale              

                    (Húsavík, Iceland)

                               After Cal Freeman

Dear blubber, glorious obesity, 

your tubercles like hairy warts.

Dear blur on the sea’s surface

and downward curve of your dorsal fin,

the devil-may-care of your fluke.

Dear breach, stars streaming.

You turn in your slow wave sleep.

Blood warm, breast-feeding,

seraphic flippers, shelter your calf who is

motionless

hanging

Published as part of an interview in Poetry Wales, 2022  online only.