Poetry by Arthur Ginsberg
for Miriam, La Paz 2024
Of all the treasures hidden in the sea,
creation sprinkled them with luminous dots,
and none more magisterial than thee.
They range from far to migrate to this spot.
For months they feast on ocean’s sumptuous broth
of plankton, krill and small fish through fine gills.
Stunned by their beauty we hover like moths,
recalling with horror how Ahab killed.
We come as strangers to this holy place,
as do pilgrims travel to a shrine,
to feel these spirits through our eyes’ embrace,
to revel in their eloquent design.
From fin to head they’ve not a single bone,
a scaffold upon which to drape their flesh,
solely from cartilage these giants have grown
to swim for years through oceans without rest.
Our guide beckons that it’s time to go
back to the solid earth we love and know.
Arthur Ginsberg is a neurologist and poet from Seattle who has studied with Galway Kinnell, Marvin Bell, Dorianne Laux, and Sandra Alcosser. He holds an MFA from Pacific University. He teaches poetry in the Honors program at the University of Washington. His books are Brain Works and Holy the Body.
