Leap of Faith

Written when two hundred pilot whales beached themselves on the Australian coast. In memory of the countless kidnapped Africans who jumped overboard during the Middle Passage.

Photo by Richard Sagredo on Unsplash

Clicks and whistles tumble in the surf
bounce off black bodies
slick and smooth
their lungs crumpled
crushed beneath their weight.

And still they come
reaching for flight
breaching the waves
ballooning flotsam
covering the shore
to where sand meets
blue-lipped sky.

Like that other leap
but turned inside out
upside down
warped by time
thrumming the spiderweb —
a chord plucked.

Again
black bodies
slick and smooth
the crack of the whip
the splash as they hit the water
sinking fast and true.

Weighted by shackles
they waited for the turned back
for the sun in the captor’s eye
for the rush of wind
that would ease their flight
back home.