the whales // the universe // the song
by the time he’d heard about whale songs // he’d heard about whales being
space aliens // extraterrestrials come to sing in our waters // what a concept
// what a world // what a convergence // holistic // the trinkets and
sculptures // the books // two out of three houses brim full // they spelled it
out // son // this world isn’t what it seems // there are visions among us //
there are whales singing in an ocean you’ve never seen // there is a god
inside all of us // son // not a church god // a what then // a god // look in
the lake // a whale is there // look in the whale // god is there // by the time
the boy read moby dick // years later // he knew this by the first page //
ahab // the beast // the white whale // the beauty // irreconcilable // so when
he looked in the church of ahab // he found no whales // no songs worth
loving // a bad approximation of the house // what are saints to aliens
swimming in the endless cool beneath the lapping on the shore // where
the books spelled knowledge // where the whales sang the universe //
where the boy cried // amazed
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Santino DallaVecchia is a poet from Lansing, Michigan. An MFA candidate at Vermont College of Fine Arts, his work has appeared in Dream Pop Press, River River, The Timberline Review, Heron Tree, and Gambling the Aisle, among others. A community oriented arts advocate, he frequently leads and participates in local workshops and readings. Santino is an avid Godzilla enthusiast and works as a barista by day, slowly brewing his life away.
