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Whale

A fifth grade vocabulary lesson
and it happened again.
Define the word whale,
my fifth grade teacher instructed, .
and quletty; purposely,
someone said my name.
. -Herpoon out, my lowered eyes burned
as I felt my Jarge body grow larger.
They called me whale one day,' ..
tetso the next
and brought out dreams of my own extinction.
That isn't me, I'd cry inside.
I chose to hide,
sinking down into depths
of my own world, warm and safe.
Now, looking in a sea of glass,
I see reflections
of the whale, still hiding beneath
the surface, warm and safe.
Fearful of the world, the whale
knows her own beauty.
Quietly, she waits for appreciation.

Karen M. Rex '87

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