#The World’s Loneliest Whale Sings the Loudest Song

[appointmentwithmryeats]

The World’s Loneliest Whale Sings the Loudest Song

I won’t make metaphors out of fish.

If I have to die, I choose the ocean.

If I have to live, I choose you.

You: Everyone I’ve ever mourned.

I believe less & less of sunlight these days.

I won’t die alone.

To awaken crying is to awaken displaced.

Ghost of your joy in the bathtub.

A face in the mirror.

Your nephew’s painting in the foyer.

My mother cried in bedrooms growing up.

I would study her for hours. In a study,

researchers learned patients who cried less

are likely to have dismissive attachment styles.

Today, every bedroom in the house is mine.

I stopped crying at age 12.

As a child, I spoke a language no one

understood.

Research suggests loneliness increases

cardiovascular disease.

When my cousin died, she died alone.

When the world collapsed around Darwish,

he wrote of coffee and sex.

When you held my body close to yours,

I thought of clementines, sweet citrus,

all the world’s lemons we’d temper with

honey.

The world’s loneliest whale sings the loudest

song.

This is what you’ll tell me the first time we

meet.

And I’ll think about the ocean.

And I’ll think about you.

I never learned how to swim.

I’ve been drowning my whole life.

Studies suggest drowning lasts 1-3 minutes.

But I’ll never stop grieving.

Scientists are still searching for the 52-hertz

whale.

But I swear he’s here.

In my bedroom.

And I can hear him.

And he’s telling me I can stop.

Noor Hindi

[havingapoemwithyou]

The World’s Loneliest Whale Sings the Loudest Song by Noor Hindi

[fiercynn]

palestinian poets: noor hindi

noor hindi (she/her/hers) is a palestinian-american poet and reporter. her debut collection of poems, Dear God. Dear Bones. Dear Yellow was published by haymarket books. she is currently editing a palestinian poetry anthology with george abraham (haymarket books, 2025). she is a 2021 ruth lilly and dorothy sargent rosenberg fellow. follow her on instagram or twitter.

IF YOU READ JUST ONE POEM BY NOOR HINDI, MAKE IT THIS ONE

OTHER POEMS ONLINE THAT I LOVE BY NOOR HINDI

The World’s Loneliest Whale Sings the Loudest Song at split this rock

In Which the White Woman on my Thesis Committee Asks Me about Witness at hobart pulp

Against Death at triquarterly

Poem In Which My Mother Tells Me Not To Do A Pap Smear Because It Might Tear My Nonexistent Hymen at underblong

[translations2]

세상에서 가장 외로운 고래가 가장 시끄러운 노래를 부른다, 그리고 다른 고백들: 이것이 당신이 처음 만난 내게 해줄 말이다, 누어 힌디

https://aaww.org/the-worlds-loneliest-whale/

The World's Loneliest Whale Sings the Loudest Song & Other Confessions: This is what you'll tell me the first time we meet.

- Noor Hindi

I won’t make metaphors out of fish. If I have to die, I choose the ocean. If I have to live, I choose you. You: Everyone I’ve ever mourned. I believe less & less of sunlight these days. I won’t die alone. To awaken crying is to awaken displaced. Ghost of your joy in the bathtub. A face in the mirror. Your nephew’s painting in the foyer. My mother cried in bedrooms growing up. I would study her for hours. In a study, researchers learned patients who cried less are likely to have dismissive attachment styles. Today, every bedroom in the house is mine. I stopped crying at age 12. I am angry at the color yellow. Trauma and all eight of its tentacles make a mangle of my skin. I can’t find my home. As a child, I hated being the youngest. I hated being looked at by those I loved. In dreams, I spoke a language no one understood. Research suggests loneliness increases cardiovascular disease. When my cousin died, she died alone. Heart failure makes the body go boom. When the world collapsed around Darwish, he wrote of coffee and sex. When you held my body close to yours, I thought of clementines, sweet citrus, all the world’s lemons we’d temper with honey. The world’s loneliest whale sings the loudest song. This is what you’ll tell me the first time we meet. And I’ll think about the ocean. And I’ll think about you. I never learned how to swim. I’ve been drowning my whole life. Studies suggest drowning lasts 1-3 minutes. I’ll never stop grieving. Scientists are still searching for the 52-hertz whale. But I swear he’s here. In my bedroom. And I can hear him. And he’s telling me I can stop.

_

세상에서 가장 외로운 고래가 가장 시끄러운 노래를 부른다, 그리고 다른 고백들: 이것이 당신이 처음 만난 내게 해줄 말이다.

- 누어 힌디

물고기의 은유를 하지 않겠어. 죽어야 한다면, 바다를 선택할래. 살아야 한다면, 당신을 선택할래. 당신: 그러니까 내가 지금까지 애도한 모든 이들. 점점 햇살을 믿기 어려워져. 혼자 죽지 않을거야. 울면서 잠에서 깨는 건, 추방된 채 잠에서 깨는 것. 욕조 속에 당신 기쁨의 유령이. 거울 속 얼굴 하나. 당신 조카가 현관에서 그림을 그리고 있어. 우리 엄마는 침실에서 울며 자랐대 .엄마를 몇 시간이고 연구하곤 했지. 어떤 연구에 따르면, 덜 우는 환자들은 거절 애착 유형일 가능성이 높대. 오늘, 집안 침실이 전부 내 차지야. 나는 12살부터 울지 않았어. 노란색을 보면 화가 나. 트라우마와 그 여덟개의 촉수들이 다 같이 나의 피부를 짓이겨. 나의 집을 찾을 수가 없어. 어릴 때, 나는 막내인 게 싫었어. 내가 사랑하는 사람들이 나를 쳐다보는 게 싫었어. 꿈 속에선 아무도 알아듣지 못하는 언어로 말을 했어. 어떤 연구에 따르면, 외로움이 심혈관질환 발생 가능성을 높인대. 내 사촌이 죽었을 때, 그녀는 혼자 있었어. 심부전은 몸을 쿵쾅거리게 해. 다르위시를 둘러싼 세계가 무너졌을 때, 그는 커피와 섹스에 대해 썼어. 당신이 나의 몸을 꼭 끌어안았을 때, 귤과 달콤한 감귤, 우리가 꿀에 담글 수 있는 세상의 모든 레몬을 생각했어. 세상에서 가장 외로운 고래가 가장 시끄러운 노래를 부른다. 이것이 당신이 처음 만난 내게 해줄 말이다. 그럼 내가 생각할 수 있는 것은 바다 뿐. 그리고 당신을 생각할게. 나는 수영하는 법을 배운 적이 없어. 사는 내내 익사해왔어. 연구에 따르면, 익사하는 데 걸리는 시간은 1에서 3분. 나는 비통해하기를 그만두지 않을거야. 과학자들은 여전히 52 헤르츠 고래를 찾고 있대. 맹세하건대 고래는 여기 있어. 내 침실에. 그의 말이 들려. 그는 내게 말하고 있어, 그만둘 수 있다고.

-

52 헤르츠 고래(52-hertz whale), 52 Hz 고래, 속칭 52 블루(52 Blue)는 52 Hz의 주파수를 가진 매우 특이한 주파수로 울음소리를 내는 미확인된 종의 고래로 추정되는 무언가이다. 이 소리는 52 헤르츠 고래의 것과 가장 유사한 이동 패턴을 가진 다른 고래 종[1]의 울음소리 주파수인 대왕고래의 10-39 Hz[2]나 큰고래의 20 Hz[1]보다 훨씬 높은 주파수의 소리이다. 이 소리는 1980년대 후반부터 여러 지역에서 정기적으로 관측되었으며, 52 Hz로 우는 유일한 고래로 보인다. 하지만 52 헤르츠 고래를 실제로 목격한 적은 없었으며 울음소리를 수중청음기(Hydrophone)로만 들은 사례가 전부이다. 52 헤르츠 고래는 "세계에서 가장 외로운 고래"라고 불리기도 하지만 두 번째 52 헤르츠 고래에 대한 기록도 남아 있어 . . . (출처: 위키피디아)

_

남아프리카공화국이 이스라엘을 제노사이드 혐의로 국제사법재판소에 제소했고, 오늘과 내일 첫 심리가 있다.

[friday-sea-creatures]

FSC: 3-27-20

Hello hello sea creature a-fish-ionados, I hope you are well. I'm lucky to be quarantined together with my wife (we have not killed each other yet) but I know some of you are out there by yourselves - and all of us are separate from friends, family, and lovers in one way or another. It can be a bit lonely, can't it? Well this Friday we're celebrating a creature who knows your pain, and could honestly use a little company herself. So put on some Friday Sea Creatures tunes and check out the

52-Hz Whale (Species unknown)

52 Hz Whale Facts:

The 52 Hz Whale (we'll call her 52H from here on out) is a single, unique, unknown whale that sings at a frequency almost twice as high as other blue and fin whales.

First recorded by oceanographers at the Woods Hole Institute in the 1980s, the world only learned about her in a 2004 paper based on declassified US Navy Sound Surveillance System data.

Says Watkins et al., "Only one series of these 52-Hz calls has been recorded at a time, with no call overlap, suggesting that a single whale produced the calls... These tracks consistently appeared to be unrelated to the presence or movement of other whale species (blue, fin and humpback) monitored year-round with the same hydrophones." In the paper's summary - with a pathos uncharacteristic for those of the scientific bent - to suggest that this whale, roaming around out there thousands of miles from her kin, maybe without kin, "just might be the loneliest whale in existence."

It's also possible that, like a cetacean Prince or Frank Zappa, 52H is simply a musician way ahead of her time.

Much like a 7th grader showing up after summer break, 52H's voice has dropped, technically now making him/her the 49 hz whale.

To paraphrase moral philosopher Eric Hoffer, "In men, as in whales, it is loneliness that makes the loudest noise."  

Fortunately, friends, we are not like 52H - eventually our solitary migration through the sea of quarantine will come to an end, and we will rejoice together, and sing our exuberant whale songs, and if it be summer or winter, we'll feast on Alaskan krill or plump Baja shrimp and know that it is good to be alive.

Since there are no pictures of the damn thing, for your bonus content, I present noted whale-song producer Roger Searle Payne's seminal 1970 album: Songs of the Humpback Whale.

Nothing but bangers, every track.

Thinking of you, 52H,

Mike

VP of Sea Creatures