CAROL DESPEAUX FAWCETT | DOLPHIN WHISPERER

DOLPHIN WHISPERER

Pawai Bay, Hawaii

She tells us, “If you make a connection with a dolphin

you will have this bond always and forever.”

Her long gray hair sways with the boat, wisdom etched

on her face, a craggy shoreline. We lean in—

she instructs us to send love and Frequency 16 into the water.

“Stay close to the boat, swim in pairs.” Of course

I float off

like Mom did—at 66, picking blackberries in her nightgown,

wandering away from home in the middle of the night, mind freed

by early dementia. She forgets who I am, who she is, forgets

her mean, drunk, dead husband. Better off for it, too. Except now

she can’t find her way home. Four counties of Search and Rescue,

bloodhounds, picture in the paper, on TV, everyone

searching

floating face down, a pod streams beneath me—highway of sleek

torpedo bodies, then a mama and her baby. I send Frequency 16, think—

Your baby is beautiful. I have a son, too. They loop back,

circle beneath me. She touches him with her flipper, he spins

I pray

for the first time in years. Pray they find Mom, pray she’s alive.

I fall to my knees, gravity pulling me down.

They find her in blackberry stickers, unable to speak or stand.

In the ambulance, I hold her hand but she pulls away

unsure

how quiet the ocean is, how empty the funeral home.

Night after night, she protected me, sacrificed herself

bracing

myself on the pew in front, I feel mother and baby spin,

remember the words of the dolphin whisperer—

always and forever.

Carol Despeaux Fawcett lives in the Pacific Northwest. She earned her M.F.A. from Goddard College. Her poetry is published in 34 Orchard, Isele Magazine, Birdhouse Magazine, Jeopardy, Dreich Magazine, Out There Literary Magazine, and elsewhere. Her poetry and memoir won first place in the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Contest. Her interests include paddle boarding, camping, the mystical, and orange cats. Learn more at cdfawcett.com.