Dolphins swim through the moon
Into the sky, sliding into stars
That want to be coral, at least
For a time. Mammals like humans
Dream of dolphins, shaping them
From paper clips and doodling them
Into a life beyond ocean and sky.
When a dolphin is sick or injured,
Another will swim under it,
Pushing it to the surface to breathe
From time to time. I would
Discharge the duties of woman
And mother and friend and sister
And daughter and lover and mammal
Bound by water within and without.
–Shaun Perkins
This poem was inspired this morning by the Day in History (Dec. 11, 1936) fact:
After ruling for less than one year, Edward VIII becomes the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. He chose to abdicate after the British government, public, and the Church of England condemned his decision to marry the American divorcée Wallis Warfield Simpson. On the evening of December 11, he gave a radio address in which he explained, “I have found it impossible to carry on the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge the duties of king, as I would wish to do, without the help and support of the woman I love.”
Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry 