The whale dreams of distances, of emptiness, and then of form. Later, when the whale is
killed, it is the blubber of these dreams that will mark the founding of Zen.

The whale dreams in reverse, imagining itself a smaller whale, then a calf, then a small
shell inside the body of its mother. The whale wants to remain inside the dream forever, but
the dream ends, and the whale is birthed back into the world.

Sometimes the whale dreams of harpoons, of blood, of scars running along its barnacle-covered back.

The whale is a uniform color, almost industrial, so at night, when fish sleep, the whale
dreams itself an octopus, many colors flaring in the depths.

The whale forgets itself in a dream and imagines it is a butterfly. When the whale awakes,
it’s not sure if it’s a whale who dreamed itself a butterfly or a butterfly who dreamed itself a
whale. This too would be recorded as belonging to a religious figure, a Daoist, Zhuangzi,
who found it in the oil used to light his lamp.

The whale dreams it is no longer alone. The whale dreams in sadness; it has no vocal cords,
but it has the freight train of desire thrumming in its heart.

Sometimes the whale dreams of God, and in the dream, God keeps calling him Leviathan,
but the whale no longer answers to the name given by God.

When a whale dies, its body falls to the ocean floor, where it makes up its own ecology. The
whale dreams itself a harvest. The whale dreams itself a graveyard.

The whale dreams of breaching, sun skitter, and spray. The whale dreams of unnamed
cities.

The whale nearly dies of loneliness, but it reminds itself that nothing so strange as a whale
has ever existed. It is not itself, but a dream of some other being, lost to the long march of
history.

Leviathan.

The Whale Dreams by Andrew Bertaina

Andrew Bertaina is the author of the essay collection, The Body Is a Temporary Gathering Place (Autofocus, 2024), the book length essay, Ethan Hawke & Me (Barrelhouse, 2025), and the short-story collection, One Person Away From You (2020 Moon City Press Award Winner). His work has appeared in The Threepenny Review, New Letters, Prairie Schooner, Witness Magazine, and elsewhere.

Published October 15 2025