A Brief Sojourn in the Belly of the Whale

"The coiled fish or the soiled fish?"
G. T. Tanselle, Scholarly Editor, Moby Dick

The beast's stomach acids
bleach the woman interned.

It is obnoxious to assume interiors
are white or pure;
souls, like handkerchiefs;
vertical, positive numbers.
Hydrochloric acid, pepsin, rennin, et. al.
scar her axons and dendrites.

End stop.  She returns,
like shore to Jonah.
Then she lazes on the beach, yes?

Catherine Daly

If you've any comments on her poem, Catherine Daly would be pleased to hear from you.