What sort of resolve does it take to keep your own head afloat after the loss of a mother? …Or a child? What is that magic combination of will and tenacity that can reignite a drive to go on- Without? What does it take to swim Deep. Into the depths and haul the sinking dead to the surface push them along in reverence while the waves crash and rock in protest threatening your own demise Is it instinct? Obsession? Love? Bu doesn’t love lift us? Buoyant. Doesn’t love awaken? Embolden? Doesn’t love penetrate the darkness, down into the depths And reach down to say, You Must Go On? Eventually, you have to leave the darkness- There is no air there - Eventually, you must let go and swim solo back to the surface Leave the dead behind (there is no air there) and Be again. - Becca .
In the Summer of 2018 the World learned of the mother Killer Whale J35 named Tahlequah, who spent nearly three weeks carrying and pushing the body of her stillborn calf all around the Salish Sea. It was heartbreaking. I lived on the Kitsap Penninsula, in Washington, at the time, and it haunted the Pacific Northwest. I wrote this poem in the depths of my grief, dealing with the loss of my Mother the previous December. This story, was made more personally profound, as I called the Cherokee Nation town of Tahlequah, Oklahoma home for many years, and my own son was born there in 1999.
UPDATE!
September 2020: Tahlequah gave birth to another baby, a “spunky and energetic” baby boy J57, named Phoenix by the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, Washington
J-pod (Tahlequah and Phoenix’s family) are Southern Resident killer whales. These whales stay primarily in the Salish Sea and the coastal waters of Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island in British Columbia. They differ from other pods of Orca, because there are so few remaining (less than 100). So every birth is vital for their survival. Southern Residents rely upon salmon as their primary food source – especially Chinook Salmon. Sadly industry and pollution are diminishing this potential food source. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued an emergency order declaring 13 individual Southern Resident killer whales at serve risk. Please visit and follow SR3.
Top image: Northwest Indigenous Supernatural Killerwhale Print by Cori Savard