
33. Finished history/
Of whaling shipwreck •Essex•/
(Cannibalism)/
#haiku
34. The Inspiration/
For Melville’s book •Moby Dick•/
Was a gripping read/
#haiku
35. Interestingly/
The Blacks were eaten up first/
(Not those who jumped ship)/
#haiku
36. A heroic tale/
Of 19th Century life:/
“Life” wasn’t easy/
#haiku
37. Industrial life/
Aboard floating factories/
Of cetacean death/
#haiku
38a. Wealth cheapens living:/
The search for portable oil/
Displaced men’s labor/
#haiku
38b. Before oil reading/
Required tallow candles made/
Slowly, locally/
#haiku
38c. The cost of reading/
Or any nocturnal light/
Was prohibitive/
#haiku
39a. Ingenious workers/
Industrialized murder/
To enrich a few/
#haiku
39b. Ingenious workers/
Industrialized murder/
To light people’s nights/
#haiku
40. Whale oil lit the night/
Of Victorian bedrooms/
Permitting reading/
#haiku
41. The value of light/
So widely squandered today/
Was a luxury/
#haiku
42. Fine Parlor reading/
Made necessary whale oil/
Ere petroleum/
#haiku
43. Species’ destruction/
That some few might read at night/
(Free-market logic)/
#haiku
44. Men worked factories/
Floating charnel pyres making/
Convenience back home/
#haiku
45a. Inhumane danger/
Is the skeleton of ease/
In whaling’s lamp-light/
#haiku
45b. Inhumane danger/
Is the skeleton of ease/
(Modern convenience)/
#haiku
46. Like petroleum/
Labor is concentrated/
In oily barrels/
#haiku
47. Like petroleum/
We endanger some species/
So some can get rich/
#haiku
48. The logic of wealth/
Rationalizes taking/
For some to have more/
#haiku
49. Whalers risked their lives/
On floating slaughterhouses/
For decent payouts/
#haiku
50. We risk the planet/
For digital convenience/
Fueled by whaling’s heirs/
#haiku
51. The planet marches/
Down the path oil’s wealth has paved/
(Ease “über allës”)/
#haiku
52. The Essex’s men/
Three months at sea without aid/
Lived heroically/
#haiku
53. Difficult living/
Impossible to survive/
There is much to learn/
#haiku