Inspiration for two Whale Poems in 'Ortelius' Sea-Monsters'

                                                                      

                       Still from film of a humpback whale in the Husavik Whale Museum.

On the same May 2017 trip to Iceland where I saw sea-monsters on Ortelius' map, I also spent a day travelling along the coast to Husavik, whale-watching capital of North Iceland.  

Included in my 'Ortelius' Sea-Monsters' pamphlet are two poems about real whales as a counterbalance to the trauma of those sea-monster poems. However the plight of whales is also potentially traumatic as they may be on the point of extinction if we don't clear up pollution of the oceans, whether from plastic, oil or noise of shipping lanes.

I've written extensively about my 'To a Humpback Whale' poem in a feature 'How I wrote...' published in Poetry Wales (online) and also briefly mentioned the atmospheric experience of the Husavik Whale Museum.

See previous blog posted 2022/03/how-i-wrote-to-humpback-whale-poetry.

Some photos of the trip:

                                                   Kitted out against the cold wind and spray.

                                                                 A  "blow".

                                                  All we saw. No breaches. Oh well.

                                             Inside Husavik Whale Museum.