"Migraine as Whale: A Triptych" by Sarah M. Sala
- Title
- "Migraine as Whale: A Triptych" by Sarah M. Sala
- Subject
- Poetry, Sarah M. Sala, Migraines
- Description
- Poem by Sarah M. Sala which addresses invisible illness, physical pain, and coming to terms with being ill. The first section of the triptych comprises nine stanzas which are then repeated and altered in the second and third sections.
- Creator
- Sala, Sarah M.
- Publisher
- Poetry Foundation
- Date
- January 2024
- Rights
- © 2025 Poetry Foundation
Dublin Core
- Text
- Migraine as Whale: A Triptych
By Sarah M. Sala
I
Your wusband and some locals charter a whale-watching
tour in the North Pacific Ocean. The surf is huge—
rough weather moving in tomorrow.
The boat carves celadon waves into midnight navy depths.
All day you scan the horizon for humpback whales until
the captain cuts the engine.
Surface tension gives way to a whale’s bumpy tubercles,
her tuxedo shirt throat grooves, you’re met with her
distrustful orbiting eye. Something shifts in you.
After the catamaran pitches back to harbor, the other
parties disembark. But the horizon continues to lurch
like the unsteady hull of a ship.
Except now, it’s the walls of the apartment. The kitchen
stove, the pendant lights, even the blankets insist on this
heaving motion. Everywhere you sight land, the ocean’s
undulation echoes.
As best you can, you surrender to the waves. I am a boat,
you say. I am a wave. I am a whale. I am a whale’s iris.
But you awaken to brain coral for a skull. Ocean tackle
lacerates your bottom lip. Trawling nets sink your quads.
Wherever you go, your pant legs pour sand.
You’ve already missed so much work, you drift to the
subway. Today you’re slated to present your research
to the department chair.
When you confess your new body to a colleague
at the elevator bank, she says, but you don’t look sick.
II
Your wusband and some locals charter a whale watching
tour in the North Pacific Ocean. The surf is huge—
rough weather moving in tomorrow.
The boat carves celadon waves into midnight navy depths.
All day you scan the horizon for humpback whales until
the captain cuts the engine.
Surface tension gives way to a whale’s bumpy tubercles,
her tuxedo shirt throat grooves, you’re met with her
distrustful orbiting eye. Something shifts in you.
After the catamaran pitches back to harbor, the other
parties disembark. But the horizon continues to lurch
like the unsteady hull of a ship.
Except now, it’s the walls of the apartment. The kitchen
stove, the pendant lights, even the blankets insist on this
heaving motion. Everywhere you sight land, the ocean’s
undulation echoes.
As best you can, you surrender to the waves. I am a boat,
you say. I am a wave. I am a whale. I am a whale’s iris.
But you awaken to brain coral for a skull. Ocean tackle
lacerates your bottom lip. Trawling nets sink your quads.
Wherever you go, your pant legs pour sand.
You’ve already missed so much work, you drift to the
subway. Today you’re slated to present your research
to the department chair.
When you confess your new body to a colleague
at the elevator bank, she says, but you don’t look sick.
III
a whale
. huge—
moving .
celadon waves into midnight .
.
,
her throat grooves,
. .
, other
parties .
.
, .
, ,
. Everywhere you sight ,
.
, . ,
. . . .
, .
. .
Wherever you go, .
You miss ,
.
.
When you confess your new body
, , you don’t look sick. - Original Format
- Poem. Original formatting can be seen on the Poetry Foundation website.
Text Item Type Metadata
Files
Citation
Sala, Sarah M., “"Migraine as Whale: A Triptych" by Sarah M. Sala,” Excavating Histories: Archival Research Methods, accessed April 25, 2026, https://archive.engl.sites.carleton.edu/items/show/23.