𝘾𝙊𝙒𝙂𝙄𝙍𝙇𝙎 𝘿𝙊𝙉'𝙏 𝘾𝙍𝙔, art book ii

━━━━ 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲

poetry is art, and this slam poem
i wrote was placed into my
university magazine as well as
will be performed for an audience
at the end of this month!!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Empty the Tanks
     — by Jaye

Empty the tanks.
Empty them now.
Fifty-two left imprisoned
Should they all take a bow?

Born for salt, but chlorine burns their eyes
Have they not given us enough of their lives?

Send them to retirement, this industry should end
Corky’s fifty-two years, traumatic, forced to pretend.
Seven calves, all dead before age one
In all her grief and torture, should she not be done?

Has Blackfish taught us nothing?
Free Willy and all the sequels?
That one documentary about Lolita
And how she was a slave to the people?

Whose idea was it to throw fifteen thousand pounds
Of whale into the equivalent of a concrete fishbowl
Where they bash and crash and thrash against the walls out of boredom?
Who thought we could tame the “killer” out of the whale?

The trainers aren’t to blame, neither are the whales
For the ones making profit sit upon thrones of orca bones and don’t seem to care.

Don’t become captivated by captivity
“There is no beauty in stolen freedom”
Don’t you see the corruption?
How we’ve been brainwashed to think we need them

Your entertainment was kidnapped.
And you wonder why Tilikum snapped?
He was rapt at attention, taking the crap, forced to adapt
The devastating death of Dawn, and two more before her
Weren’t enough to call it a wrap?

When Tilikum died, we made a vow
Carry on the fight in his name, but how?
We fought to set him free
And yet he was dead after three decades of misery.

Save these blackfish before the backlash
Becomes too much bring us back from the brink of bashing
The wrong people, and they all go out with a splash.

We demand it, we demand it, the world demands it
Demand you Empty the damn Tanks.

Imagine someone breaking into your home
Causing the world you know to vanish
And the next thing you know, you’re in a confined space
With someone who speaks only Latin, or German, or Spanish.
A language you don’t know, have never known, and will never know.

If you were in a bathtub for twenty-five year
Don’t you think you’d get a little psychotic?
Fed up with the chaotic nature of the exotic aquatic shows
That are so hypnotic they hold us captive alongside them?

Empty the Tanks.
Empty the Tanks for Shamu, Ramu, and Namu
Do it for Orky, Corky, and Snorky
The seven Kandus, three Hyaks, and four Nootkas
The twenty whales who have borne the name Shamu
To hide the shame of SeaWorld’s sins.

Are you aware that the original Shamu was only nine when she died?
That Hugo meant so little to the Seaquarium that his body was dumped in a landfill?
That Tokitae hadn’t seen another orca in forty-three years?

When will it end? When will it stop?
When will we see the way the fins drop?

These beautiful, broken Blackfish have given enough
Now they float listlessly, ragged and rough

Their next day off is the day they die
But we can help if we don’t buy
The tickets to fund an endless slaughter
While these magnificent creatures wither away in artificial water.

So I say it, I beg it, I scream with all my might
Please, empty the tanks and call it goodnight.