Haiku Reflections

Whales are often battle-scarred. They have predators, and their hides may be cut by boat propellors or abraded by fisherman’s nets. That alone might make a decent haiku. But the poet has added a novel comparison in the final line to give the poem greater depth and nuance. In comparing the whale to a cave or cliff wall where ancient petroglyphs have been inscribed places the scene, not just in the depths of the ocean, but in the depths of time as well. These deep sea creatures can live for a long time, but what lives inside them—their culture, their ancestral memory, their wisdom, their songs—lives even longer. The words “ocean petroglyph” offer a memorable neologism—a completely new way of thinking about a whale.
—Clark Strand