haiku for wakan

vog draped inland sound,
soundless saline salience
surreptitious shells

*

macaroni ear
hermit crab astronomer
wave gladiator

*

i spy osprey eye
aquamarine recital
listless kelp ceiling

*

narwhale pods distance
selflessly sorting hat, job
spiral helix phone


5-15-20
brentwood-darlington, Portland

"The salience (also called saliency) of an item is the state or quality by which it stands out from its neighbors.

Saliency detection is considered to be a key attentional mechanism that facilitates learning and survival by enabling organisms to focus their limited perceptual and cognitive resources on the most pertinent subset of the available sensory data."

"detailed analysis reveals that the tusk is a highly innervated sensory organ with millions of nerve endings connecting seawater stimuli in the external ocean environment with the brain.[23][24][25][26] The rubbing of tusks together by male narwhals is thought to be a method of communicating information about characteristics of the water each has traveled through, rather than the previously assumed posturing display of aggressive male-to-male rivalry.[25] In August 2016, drone videos of narwhals surface-feeding in Tremblay Sound, Nunavut showed that the tusk was used to tap and stun small Arctic cod, making them easier to catch for feeding.[27][28] It's important to note, however, that the tusk can not serve a critical function for narwhals’ survival because females, who generally do not have tusks, still manage to live longer than males and occur in the same areas. Therefore, the general scientific consensus is that the narwhal tusk is a sexual trait, much like the antlers of a stag, the mane of a lion, or the feathers of a peacock."