American Life in Poetry: ‘The Print the Whales Make’ by Marge Saiser
Marge Saiser is a Nebraska poet about whose work I have said that no contemporary poet is better at writing about love. Here’s a love poem from her new book, “I Have Nothing to Say about Fire,” from Backwaters Press.
The Print the Whales Make
You and I on the boat notice
the print the whales leave,
the huge ring their diving draws
for a time on the surface.
Is it like that when we
lose one another? Don’t
know, can’t. But
I want to believe
when we can no longer
walk across a room
for a hug, can no longer
step into the arms of the other,
there will be this:
some trace that stays
while the great body
remains below out of sight,
dark mammoth shadow
flick of flipper
body of delight
diving deep.
Poem copyright 2016 by Marjorie Saiser from “I Have Nothing to Say about Fire” (Backwaters Press, 2016) and reprinted by permission of the author and publisher. American Life in Poetry is supported by the Poetry Foundation and the English department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We do not accept unsolicited submissions.