{"sf1_id":692285,"sf2_id":"4nAqDNVn","title":"Blackfish","author":"ShingetsuMoon","words":500,"posted_at":"2014-04-12T23:22:00.000Z","tags":["Killer Whale","Orca","Poem","Poetry"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/692285-blackfish","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/4nAqDNVn","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/a9/51/a951e38e-5a22-446e-967c-a5727c3f4648","description":"#12 of National Poetry Writing Month\n\nAny ideas about what this poem is about? Anyone who has seen or heard of the documentary Blackfish will know right away. Yes, this poem is indeed about orca's or Killer Whales. I haven't been to Seaworld or any marine park in years and I honestly don't plan on going back. They made me far too uncomfortable even before the documentary came out.\nObviously this poem contains a lot of anthropomorphism. At the very least maybe it will make you think.","content":"* * *\n\nBlack as night and white as snow.  \nYou thought you could tame a  \ncreature big enough to dwarf  \nyour puny boats?\n\nEven humans would not be   \nso foolish, so you stole me   \naway when I was young.\n\nDid you enjoy it?  \nThe thrill of the hunt as my  \nfamily swam for their lives?\n\nHalf of them swimming off  \nto try distract you while the   \nmothers and their calves ran  \ndesperately with nets at   \ntheir backs.\n\nWere you proud of what you   \ndid when you finally captured  \none of the calves and dragged  \nthe net in front of their mother?\n\nWere you boast about how   \nskilled you were when you   \nhauled us into the air? Dragging  \nus out of our home and leaving  \nus at your mercy?\n\nDid you shed any tears as   \nyou watched my mother chasing  \nafter your boat with her screams  \npiercing the air?\n\nSTOP. COME BACK.  \nSTOP. COME BACK.\n\nDid you hear the pain in her voice  \nor did you only see a dumb   \nanimal whose loss would soon  \nbe forgotten?\n\nDid your tiny ears hear the change  \nin pitch as her cries turned from   \npleas for you to stop into goodbyes  \nas she fell back and let the boat  \npull away for good?\n\nGOODBYE. SAD.  \nGOODBYE. SAD.\n\nTrapped in a cage with walls that  \nbounced back my booming echos   \nlike sharks teeth ripping into the  \nback of my skull.\n\nFed fish that were froze and lifeless.  \nImprisoned with strangers whose  \nteeth tore me to pieces each and every  \nnight. Tiny pools barely big enough   \nfor us to turn around in.\n\nNo escape from the anger they vented  \non me. Anger at the ones who held them  \nthere. Who tore them away from their   \nfamilies. Who forced them to jump and  \nplay for the amusement of others.\n\nYou sent me away to another home.  \nYou thought it would be better for me.  \nBut a cage is still a cage.\n\nAnd a prison is still a prison.\n\nMore strangers. More hate.  \nMore anger. More packed stands.  \nMore jumping. More fancy tricks  \nday after day.\n\nYou drag me from my mother.  \nSeparate me from my family.  \nThrow me in with violent strangers.  \nForce me to perform for dead fish  \nand a rub on the head.\n\nThen you turn around and ask  \nme for my love?\n\nOnly humans could be so arrogant  \nand so foolish.\n\nHow can a prisoner ever come  \nto love their jailer?\n\nI tolerate your affections because  \nthere is no one else.\n\nI perform your tricks because I   \nhave nothing else to occupy   \nmy time.\n\nI eat your dead fish that taste  \nlike rot in my mouth because   \nI would starve otherwise.\n\nBut love?  \nForgiveness?\n\nYou may have forgotten what  \nyour kind did to me, but I   \nnever will.\n\nYou strip me of my pride  \nand then expect me not to   \nget angry. Frustrated.   \nPsychotic.\n\nHow can you expect  \nsomeone to be normal  \nafter leaving them trapped  \nin a cage for their entire lives?\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"National Poetry Writing Month","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/691902-elegant-symphony.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/692851-heart-of-the-lion.json"}}