Phytoplankton & Krill

 

 I woke up thinking about

Phytoplankton

and how it was the dominant

nourishment in the sea

I could not quite remember

in order, the critters that

ate each other, one larger

than the krill who ate

 the phytoplankton

all the way up to the humongous

Gray whale, largest on the planet,

its heart as big as an automobile, 
who ate the krill that fed on the phytoplankton

It was a segment of “The Blue Planet”

I showed to a group of freshmen

in science class, so beautifully

filmed, one could feel a part of it,

if only for an hour

Of course nature can be what

Humans call cruel

Black and white killer whales

chased the huge gray whale

and her calf for miles and miles-

until the calf was so exhausted

that then, the pod of 15 killer whales

attacked and drowned it

They only ate a part of the jaw and tongue

leaving the corpse to be

stripped clean by other sea life

Mama Whale swam on, bereft,

survival depending on finding

her pod and food- krill and

Phytoplankton             

  2/26/2015