“Greatest Auntie strayed at Oncewas Bay <br />while Greatest Grandma played in the mudgrass marsh <br />fifty-four million years ago today. <br /> <br />“Salted seagrass pepped the reef wind spray, <br />bluer water lured where the bayou branched <br />and Greatest Auntie strayed at Oncewas Bay. <br /> <br />“A current spurred the wayward cow away, ” <br />said mother hippo sadly to her calf, <br />“fifty-four million years ago today.” <br /> <br />Meanwhile, unbeknown to her, a whale <br />which basked with a calf, half a world apart <br />sang, “Greatest Auntie strayed at Oncewas Bay <br /> <br />“and vanished in a maze of silted veins, <br />screened by fleshy reeds and clotted palms, <br />fifty-four million years ago today.” <br /> <br />The whale and hippo sang the same refrain <br />because a oncewas reed tied heart to heart, <br />“Greatest Auntie strayed at Oncewas Bay <br />fifty-four million years ago today.” <br /> <br /> <br />Whippomorpha Vow <br /> <br />Wild <br />Harps strung <br />In long throats <br />Pulse sliding scales; <br />Plangent liquid notes. <br />Oblique vocal folds mold <br />Melancholic melodies <br />Or percussive plaints. Hippo blows <br />Raspberries, bow and stern, to pan Whale’s <br />Poetry and Whale keens like a harpoon <br />Honed on steel. I’m their last common ancestor; <br />A small mammal, a small fossil now. But was my <br />Voice as pleasing as theirs? Just ask me. You’ll find me at <br />Oncewas Bay (which may have strayed) . I promise my bones will tell. <br />Wild harps strung in long throats pulse sliding scales; plangent liquid notes.<br /><br />Diane Hine<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/whippomorpha-villanelle/
