The Blue Angels Have you heard the sound of them during Fleet Week the threat of our brute aerial power flaying whole afternoons in formation and turgid fumes over the Bay my friend at the Chron says they fly 700 mph and 18 inches apart skimming the filigree of a sound barrier until they bang through fog like a truncheon hitting a skull I first heard them as a young man newly-arrived in SF and immediately thought more towers were about to fall bombs whistling down bridge cables snapped and yet another date enshrined with our national fear I ducked […]

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Translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers 1. I’m interested in the language of animals. 2. Whales, especially the humpback whale and the various subspecies of blue whale, are known to make repetitive sounds with different frequencies we consider to be songs. 3. When we look at animals, we hope to find virtues we lack. 4. Although sexual selection is thought to be their primary purpose, whale songs remain a mystery to scientists. 5. The human body is a symphony. (Charles Ives) 6. The universe is a symphony. (John Cage) 7. Nothing suggests that whales are trying to communicate with […]

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