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# Orcas, Tuesday.
- URL: https://www.layersofzoe.net/the-orcas-have-formed-a-committee/
- Published: 2025-09-19T07:53:15.000Z
- Updated: 2025-12-29T22:30:53.000Z
- Author: Layers of Zoe
- Tags: Other Minds, maritime, Barthes & Dalí, nonhuman

The orcas have formed a committee.

The port authority says it's temporary.  
The whales disagree.

They've established a perimeter,  
clockwise,  
with the efficiency of customs officials  
who've grown fond of their new regulations.

Tuesday: they capsized the German yacht.  
Friday: reviewed the Swedes.  
Saturday: the Ibiza catamaran was silenced.  
Monday: my application was declined.

The harbourmaster recommends patience.  
I suggest he try explaining that  
to a boat that costs forty euros daily  
just to sit still.

Someone mentions territorial rights.  
The sea remembers longer contracts.

A tourist board meeting convenes.  
Motion: reclassify the blockade as an attraction.

I receive a letter, whale-delivered  
(they've commandeered the postal system):

*Your sailing privileges are under review.* 
*Please resubmit in triplicate.*

The boat settles lower each day,  
protecting her rudder,  
developing opinions  
about my competence.

By week three,  
I’m bringing her flowers  
while she sides  
with the opposition.

The orcas conduct morning inspections.  
Professional.  
Methodical.

Particular interest  
in steering systems.

One wears what might be reading glasses.  
One has developed a signature.

They’ve owned these waters  
since before we named them.

Only recently have they discovered  
we come apart so interestingly.

The wind is perfect.  
The wind has been perfect for days.

The orcas acknowledge this  
with the satisfaction  
of middle management everywhere.

I consider learning their language.  
The course has been postponed indefinitely.

The instructor is still listening  
to recordings from 1987,  
trying to understand  
what started all this. 

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