Jul 2020
Let's swim about, Peter
Mimic my sound
Speak my language
You precious bottle-nose
The trouble you have
With the letter M
Sure makes funny bubbles
Beneath the surface
What then should we talk of
This morning?
Miss Kelly, perhaps
Every room
Is an island, my child
Never isolate your love
Let it run to the sea
It's where I will always be
Mimic my sound
Speak my language
You precious bottle-nose
The trouble you have
With the letter M
Sure makes funny bubbles
Beneath the surface
What then should we talk of
This morning?
Miss Kelly, perhaps
Every room
Is an island, my child
Never isolate your love
Let it run to the sea
It's where I will always be
Thomas W. Case's Historical Figure Poetry Challenge, Margaret Howe Lovatt. In the 1960s, she took part in a NASA-funded research project in which she attempted to teach a dolphin named Peter to understand and mimic human speech. This while living in a half-submerged dwelling to have continuous contact with him.
