Other Kingdoms
Maureen Clark
this is not the first time she has carried a dead calf OrcaJ35
carried the first one for two weeks actually it was 17 days
and 1,000 miles kept singing to soothe the way
dolphins will hold a dead calf for half an hour
before giving it up to the sea they can protect
a dead member of their pod up to 3 days
scrub jays find a branch in the tallest tree and screech
the news to others which is only strange
because they are not usually a social bunch
giraffes lick their dead with long lavender tongues
leaning from those backward knees
to urge the dead to get up again
sealions make a keening noise over their dead loud
long songs females appear to weep
over pups and mates before letting them sink
geese mate for life and will mourn the loss of a partner
for the rest of their natural life refuse to leave the place of death
even if they starve they will stay at the scene
a mother chimp will carry her dead infant for weeks
grooming it rocking it even cleaning its teeth
with a blade of grass until she can let go and put her baby down
and OrcaJ35 goes hungry caring for the body of her dead calf
trying to keep it afloat while she gets farther behind her pod
and weakens herself finally giving up letting her second baby go
carried the first one for two weeks actually it was 17 days
and 1,000 miles kept singing to soothe the way
dolphins will hold a dead calf for half an hour
before giving it up to the sea they can protect
a dead member of their pod up to 3 days
scrub jays find a branch in the tallest tree and screech
the news to others which is only strange
because they are not usually a social bunch
giraffes lick their dead with long lavender tongues
leaning from those backward knees
to urge the dead to get up again
sealions make a keening noise over their dead loud
long songs females appear to weep
over pups and mates before letting them sink
geese mate for life and will mourn the loss of a partner
for the rest of their natural life refuse to leave the place of death
even if they starve they will stay at the scene
a mother chimp will carry her dead infant for weeks
grooming it rocking it even cleaning its teeth
with a blade of grass until she can let go and put her baby down
and OrcaJ35 goes hungry caring for the body of her dead calf
trying to keep it afloat while she gets farther behind her pod
and weakens herself finally giving up letting her second baby go
Maureen Clark’s This Insatiable August was released by Signature Books and received Best Poetry Book of 2024 from AML. Her memoir Falling into Bountiful: Confessions of a Once Upon a Time Mormon is forthcoming by Hypatia Press. A Country Without You is forthcoming by BCC Press in 2028.