52 Blue

In 1992 in the North Pacific Ocean, a Navy hydrophone picked up the song of a whale. The whale sang and listened...sang and listened...sang and listened...but heard no song in return.

“The whale must be in the Balaenopteridae family, for it is gigantic,” said the scientists. Normally, the giant whales sing their songs and other whales sing back. The song helps the whales form close friendships of songs in the vast loneliness of the sea. This was not a normal situation, though, and this was not a normal whale.

The scientists named the whale 52 Blue, because it sings it’s song at a frequency of 52 Hertz, the frequency of basso profundo, the frequency just above the lowest note on a tuba. “Because 52 Blue sings at that frequency,” noted the scientists, “No other of the Balaenopteridae family can hear it’s song and sing back. Blue whales and their kin sing at between 10 and 40 Hz, so they can’t communicate with 52 Blue.”

The 2004 edition of the journal Deep-Sea Research reported that the song of 52 Blue came from a single whale whose movements, “Appeared to be unrelated to the presence or movement of other whale species.” Whales are migrants, and like migrant workers, the follow a predictable path year after year, season after season, time after time. Not 52 Blue, though.

I wrote this poem for 52 Blue,

Whale

Song

Gentle

Where Are You?

Wandering, Singing

Singing Unheard Wandering Songs

"Can You Hear Me? Are You There? Are You?

 I Am Alone"

Listening, Longing For Songs Gently Sung

"I Hear You, Song On Water, I'm Here,

I'm Here"

We Sing At Diff'rent Frequencies

Migrate Along Diff'rent Routes

Wandering, Wondering

Unheard, Unknown,

Wand'ring The Sea

Song On Water

Singing Unheard Wondering Songs

Wondering, Singing

Who Are You?

Gentle

Song

Whale

If you want to learn more about 52 Blue, you can read this wonderful article titled 52 Blue by the great writer Leslie Jamison in Atavist Magazine - https://magazine.atavist.com/52-blue