Jonah
‘the heat cleaves / the furnace bellows’
August 09, 2023

Whale, Inuit, 1830-60
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lying on the floor
in the belly of the beast
black-ribbed dome
vaults vital above,
the heat cleaves
the furnace bellows
up the blow hole flue,
the only air
is already here
each breath borrows
and goes up
in currency—
Outside holds
uncertainty below,
forgiveness breathes
above, mercy flows
where bodies bow,
to the arrow of a dove.
Jacqui Ritchie is a U.K.-based poet working on her first collection.