# Blackfish

Author: ShingetsuMoon
Tags: Killer Whale, Orca, Poem, Poetry

#12 of National Poetry Writing Month

Any 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.
Obviously this poem contains a lot of anthropomorphism. At the very least maybe it will make you think.

* * *

Black as night and white as snow.  
You thought you could tame a  
creature big enough to dwarf  
your puny boats?

Even humans would not be   
so foolish, so you stole me   
away when I was young.

Did you enjoy it?  
The thrill of the hunt as my  
family swam for their lives?

Half of them swimming off  
to try distract you while the   
mothers and their calves ran  
desperately with nets at   
their backs.

Were you proud of what you   
did when you finally captured  
one of the calves and dragged  
the net in front of their mother?

Were you boast about how   
skilled you were when you   
hauled us into the air? Dragging  
us out of our home and leaving  
us at your mercy?

Did you shed any tears as   
you watched my mother chasing  
after your boat with her screams  
piercing the air?

STOP. COME BACK.  
STOP. COME BACK.

Did you hear the pain in her voice  
or did you only see a dumb   
animal whose loss would soon  
be forgotten?

Did your tiny ears hear the change  
in pitch as her cries turned from   
pleas for you to stop into goodbyes  
as she fell back and let the boat  
pull away for good?

GOODBYE. SAD.  
GOODBYE. SAD.

Trapped in a cage with walls that  
bounced back my booming echos   
like sharks teeth ripping into the  
back of my skull.

Fed fish that were froze and lifeless.  
Imprisoned with strangers whose  
teeth tore me to pieces each and every  
night. Tiny pools barely big enough   
for us to turn around in.

No escape from the anger they vented  
on me. Anger at the ones who held them  
there. Who tore them away from their   
families. Who forced them to jump and  
play for the amusement of others.

You sent me away to another home.  
You thought it would be better for me.  
But a cage is still a cage.

And a prison is still a prison.

More strangers. More hate.  
More anger. More packed stands.  
More jumping. More fancy tricks  
day after day.

You drag me from my mother.  
Separate me from my family.  
Throw me in with violent strangers.  
Force me to perform for dead fish  
and a rub on the head.

Then you turn around and ask  
me for my love?

Only humans could be so arrogant  
and so foolish.

How can a prisoner ever come  
to love their jailer?

I tolerate your affections because  
there is no one else.

I perform your tricks because I   
have nothing else to occupy   
my time.

I eat your dead fish that taste  
like rot in my mouth because   
I would starve otherwise.

But love?  
Forgiveness?

You may have forgotten what  
your kind did to me, but I   
never will.

You strip me of my pride  
and then expect me not to   
get angry. Frustrated.   
Psychotic.

How can you expect  
someone to be normal  
after leaving them trapped  
in a cage for their entire lives?

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/4nAqDNVn
Part of the series National Poetry Writing Month
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