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.