From the website of Brad Cran, Poet Laureate for Vancouver, 2009–2011. The poem was inspired by two gray whales that swam into the harbour in downtown Vancouver in 2010, one in May and one in August.

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1

An armoured lung,

a living castle of barnacle

and bone; a peaceful

leviathan moving with

the ease of a dark cloud.

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2

The child knows more

about the gray whale

than the adult.

When given crayons

the adult says he does

not know how to draw.

The child is already drawing

the gray whale

with blue and pink.

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3

In the world of opposites

the gray whale is an ocean cave

populated by sea otters.

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4

No I didn’t see the whale but

the man behind me at Starbucks did.

Everyone was talking about it

and someone said “did you

see the whale?” his eyes danced

and he shouted across the store

I did, he kept saying. I did.

I saw the whale.

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5

And the whale said

Behold the natural world.

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6

The woman died and the man

grew frail and ashen.

His life slowed to the pace

of the gray whale.

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7

Forget the secrets of elephants.

The gray whale thinks in music.

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8

In the Oregon aquarium, the children sit

below the skeleton of the gray whale

drinking cola.

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9

The thing is, my dad doesn’t like people much.

We saw the whale on the pier outside the market.

Even after the whale had gone, my dad wanted to stay

and talk to everyone else who had seen it.

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10

Do not live in habit. Do not take the most

basic assumptions for granted. Consider

the city of whales. If you seek it with your eyes

you will never find it. It lives only in the symphonics

of the ocean. Its music is to the ear

as the pavement is to your foot.

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11

Can you believe it’s August. Can you believe

there is a whale in English Bay. How lucky

we are to walk through Stanley Park. My heart

beats at the speed of birds. I’ve stopped believing

in loneliness. Here we are. It’s summer.

I want to be in love.

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12

Some were trying to decipher what the whale

was telling us. Others already knew.

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13

And there you were

below the mountains

in the heart of the city

gazing at the gray whale.

You must change your life.

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