tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post4888710631155698577..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Whale SeasonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-9169771196439839772012-09-17T03:38:56.070-07:002012-09-17T03:38:56.070-07:00Charlie,
We all remember the days of saving the w...Charlie,<br /><br />We all remember the days of saving the world, the whales, the humans, everything living, the sacredness of the land and its creatures. And you my friend actually went out and set your sails on doing that, and have achieved many great things. So while it's obvious that the silly and often uninformed idealism of the young (well, some of the young) looks pretty futile in light of the overwhelming powers now aligned against life, it's still some consolation that not everybody is ready as yet to bow down before the God of the Android Smartphone. Maybe youthful idealism is a kind of vitamin a culture needs if it's to have any chance to survive.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-60120457083724548762012-09-16T08:20:49.161-07:002012-09-16T08:20:49.161-07:00there was a girl who believed
that poetry could sa...there was a girl who believed<br />that poetry could save the world<br />and I believed in what she said<br />and messages were sent on clouds<br />and ravens' wings.<br />we even co-opted random<br />radio waves.<br /><br />Manahatta cerulean blue,<br />I believed in you and though,<br /> faded I follow your<br />course via the weather channel's<br />regional radar, heavy snows<br />in your area, drought in mine.<br />It turned out this way<br />and today it's for whales.<br />From you I'm hard to<br />fool.<br /><br />the surround crowd sports<br />sayings as in<br />SAVE THE WHALES vs the cynical<br />NUKE THE BABY WHALES<br /><br />and that's why, though poetry is<br />not quite cut out to save the<br />world, if the language can mean<br />what it says<br />the poets would atleast have<br />done their job.Elmo St. Rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01588245143022651357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-19874601932048109092012-09-12T11:29:30.508-07:002012-09-12T11:29:30.508-07:00Rainbow-held time
big things small
small things bi...Rainbow-held time<br />big things small<br />small things big<br />hairy<br />like the whales<br />of Shangri-La<br />spotted <br />misty<br />plumes whole bodies<br />suspended <br />air<br />curved.<br /><br />They are <br />grand <br />gleaming towers<br />of Lost Horizon<br />now beggar refugees<br />in squat <br />lost<br />squat horizon.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-60421266433018097362012-09-12T10:41:35.464-07:002012-09-12T10:41:35.464-07:00Talking of skins... the purpose of the expedition ...Talking of skins... the purpose of the expedition in which Dana had enlisted was to gather skins, and much of his work on the California shore came in curing and <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Hide_Droughing.jpg" rel="nofollow">packing hides</a>.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-55712681488595118492012-09-12T10:31:58.505-07:002012-09-12T10:31:58.505-07:00The ocean histories carved into the whaleskin must...The ocean histories carved into the whaleskin must be epic.<br /><br />The practice of "bubble net" fishing, in which groups of whales swim in narrowing circles, meanwhile blowing bubbles that herd the fish inward and upward -- extremely intelligent group behaviour.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-48124749347637269692012-09-12T10:20:35.327-07:002012-09-12T10:20:35.327-07:00The Food
She’s wolfing down a can of beets
at the...The Food<br /><br />She’s wolfing down a can of beets<br />at the sink, standing there<br />with the can and a fork.<br />She swallows the slices down whole.<br />She is far away from here<br />because she is so angry.<br />The beets cool her rage<br />in her red throat—<br />tongues that can’t scream<br />in accentless English—<br />her widow’s peak<br />pointing the way down<br />to her white teeth.Susan Kay Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16277139119869470939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-50180251262360328732012-09-12T09:55:31.837-07:002012-09-12T09:55:31.837-07:00Steve, surely there is indeed a purity and innocen...Steve, surely there is indeed a purity and innocence in Dana's account (teen years adventure reading for so many of us). No such innocence or purity possible however at the Tokyo Fish Market.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-14408635284312672142012-09-12T09:52:33.557-07:002012-09-12T09:52:33.557-07:00"He was a disgusting creature; with a skin ro..."He was a disgusting creature; with a skin rough, hairy, and of an iron-grey color." <br /><br />So much depends on the point of view. <br /><br />A "terrible cultural discontinuity" sums it up all too well.Hazenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13417573435195561519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-53548166133926238782012-09-12T09:45:24.687-07:002012-09-12T09:45:24.687-07:00What Dana misses is the great stories etched into ...What Dana misses is the great stories etched into the whaleskin, rough as it is; nothing but beauty there.<br /><br />Mose23https://www.blogger.com/profile/01100756913131511440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-16054706556667567682012-09-12T09:38:28.306-07:002012-09-12T09:38:28.306-07:00Tom,
". . . and one thick, foggy night, durin...Tom,<br />". . . and one thick, foggy night, during a dead calm, while I was standing anchor-watch, one of them rose so near, that he struck our cable, and made all surge again. . . ." Such a pure and innocent sense in Dana's account of this encounter with whales off California coast, perhaps the first (written) eyewitness evidence of such sightings. What beautiful creatures of the deep (and surface) and yes, such "cultural discontinuity" with what goes on aboard the Yushin Maru and other such vessels, not to mention the Tokyo Fish Market.<br /><br />9.12<br /><br />grey whiteness of fog against invisible<br />ridge, blue jay landing on apple branch<br />in foreground, sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> were in the air even before,<br /> sense of human figure<br /><br /> two-dimensional plane, flat<br /> picture surface, side<br /><br />grey white of fog reflected in channel,<br />shadowed green pine on tip of sandspit<br />STEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-53491723304658845212012-09-12T09:10:26.238-07:002012-09-12T09:10:26.238-07:00There's a terrible cultural discontinuity betw...There's a terrible cultural discontinuity between the complex, highly-evolved social organization of the whales, and the brutal, unapologetic, technological harvesting of these creatures by this other allegedly complex, highly-evolved form of social organization.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-77098517611838417212012-09-12T08:38:28.438-07:002012-09-12T08:38:28.438-07:00I've been cycling through this essay of photos...I've been cycling through this essay of photos for ten minutes . . . moving in a way I would not have expected . . . Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com