By The Landlord
“When I see a dolphin, I know it's just as smart as I am.” – Captain Beefheart
“Cultures have long heard wisdom in non-human voices: Apollo, god of music, medicine and knowledge, came to Delphi in the form of a dolphin. But dolphins, which fill the oceans with blipping and chirping, and whales, which mew and caw in ultramarine jazz - a true rhapsody in blue - are hunted to the edge of silence.” – Jay Griffiths
“Out of the bottomless profundities the gigantic tail seems spasmodically snatching at the highest heaven … There she blows!-there she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It is Moby Dick!” – Herman Melville, Moby Dick
“I see a whale in the south-sea, drinking my soul away.” – William Blake
"Some of the greatest minds on earth live in the oceans." - Anthony Douglas Williams
“There's no question dolphins are smarter than humans, as they play more.” – Albert Einstein
“It is of interest to note that while some dolphins are reported to have learned English - up to fifty words used in correct context - no human being has been reported to have learned dolphinese.” – Carl Sagan
“Whales play, in an amniotic paradise.
Their light minds shaped by buoyancy, unrestricted by gravity,
Somersaulting.
Like angels, or birds;
Like our own lives, in the womb.” – Heathcote Williams, Whale Nation
“On planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.” – Douglas Adams, The Hitch-hikers’ Guide to The Galaxy
I touched a wild dolphin on holiday one day.
He’d swum into Dorset to Lulworth Cove Bay,
Shock casual visit, just out of the blue,
I saw dorsal fin, and instantly knew
I had to wade out in T-shirt and jeans.
It wasn’t so warm, but by any means
I needed to meet him, splash-gasp past waist.
He swam right towards me, and, as I braced,
Stroked marble-grey skin, tight-smooth as a drum,
His water-smacked clicks, smile, rattle and hum,
He whooshed past my knees, a hello for fun,
A jump and a wave, and then we were done.
Beaming on beach, then word got around,
And suddenly the cove was drowning in sound
Of people who wanted to touch dolphin too,
Children and adults, from dingy, canoe,
He glided through them with a mischievous ease
Screams of delight for this torpedo tease,
A touch for each human, seaweed-y speedy,
But grabbing hands started to get far too greedy,
And dolphin decided enough was enough,
People were needy and clumsy and rough,
The visit was curious and simply to please us,
But some seemed to think he was really their Jesus.
Smiling bottlenoses
So then, this week, we’re immersed in cetaceans,
Large mammals who hide and seek in the oceans,
That’s dolphins and whales and also the porpoise,
To leap from our shelves in song is the purpose.
For centuries mankind has eyed up the skies
For bright alien life – intelligence we ‘recognise’,
But under Earth’s water there’s been a throng
Of bigger brains swimming in song all along,
With mandibles, bullae, pursed phonic lips,
Squeaks, grunts, howls, thwops, snorts, barks and clicks,
These ondonoceti, in chat, hunt, flirtation,
Musicians full-bodied make echolocation.
Cetacean sound production in dolphin diagram
From pod play to hunting, strong flex of the vertebra,
With bubbling rings conduct their own orchestra.
Tail flukes and water slaps, in leaping or stopping,
Porpoising, flapping, to high-rise spyhopping.
Below and above it’s a complex soap drama,
Awash with emotions, of triumph, joy, trauma,
Cetaceans make choices, chat, give and receive,
Teach, learn and scheme, and tragically grieve,
Warning each other of danger from ships,
Years of harpoons, sharp nets and flesh rips,
Matter and speed felt with echo-sharp poise,
Blinded or grounded from engine roar noise.
Porpoising involves swimming in and out of the water to gain speed
So songs on these species might dive very deep
Or, like the dolphin, with brain half asleep,
Swim just in passing, but must at least fish
Literal, metaphor, stuff cetacean-ish.
From biggest blue whales to smallest dwarf sperms,
Narwhals to pilots, humpback song turns,
Belugas and bowheads, minke and snubfin
Bottlenose, spinners, from river to ocean,
Songs on these creatures might be descriptive,
But often they capture emotions prescriptive,
Diving alone, or collaborative,
Cetaceans somehow show us how we might live,
To just keep on moving, not beached, is the way,
To live in the moment – life’s short, so just play,
People, of course, must live above ground,
But we’re all connected by water and sound.
So put forward songs before Monday’s deadline,
This week’s ship’s captain with taste most refined?
George Boyland’s our Ahab, at rudder and wheel
But not hunting Moby, just songs that appeal.
Orcas give themselves some air
Further recommended reading includes:
Leviathan, or The Whale by Philip Hoare
Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution’s Creativity and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction by David George Haskell
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