Whale falls provide a sudden, concentrated food source and a bonanza for organisms in the deep sea. — National Ocean Service
Starer: erst- while whale.
Its carrion carries on, sped to seabed.
Foragers ravaged by hunger drop anchor.
Soon a waste cetacean way station, host to itsy cities.
The mortal mother lode: manna for as many years as lived their lord.
Daniel Leonard is a poetry MFA candidate at Boston University, where he was recently awarded the Hurley Prize. His poems have appeared in First Things, North Central Review, and elsewhere. See his previous poem for The Behemoth, “Cast.”
