Image: Credit: CSSF/NEPTUNE Canada

Whale Fall

“Its carrion / carries on” /

Whale falls provide a sudden, concentrated food source and a bonanza for organisms in the deep sea.
National Ocean Service

Starer: erst-
while whale.

Its carrion
carries on,
sped
to seabed.

Foragers
ravaged
by hunger
drop anchor.

Soon
a waste cetacean
way station,
host to
itsy cities.

The mortal
mother lode:
manna for
as many years
as lived
their lord.

Daniel Leonard is a poetry MFA candidate at Boston University, where he was recently awarded the Hurley Prize. His poems have appeared in First Things, North Central Review, and elsewhere. See his previous poem for The Behemoth, “Cast.”

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Also in this Issue

Issue 34 / October 29, 2015
  1. Editor's Note from October 29, 2015

    Issue 34: The long, weighty future of a whale’s body, God’s childlike attention, and hip op. /

  2. Sunken Treasure

    The end of a great creature’s life is the beginning of a long, deep community. /

  3. Deeper than Deep Space

    The unbelievable and unfathomable truth of the universe is God’s childlike gaze. /

  4. The Joint of Strength and Mortality

    A doctor looks at Jacob’s hip. /

  5. Wonder on the Web

    Issue 34: Links to amazing stuff.

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