an unkindness of raven kraas in the canopy as I stumble along
a root-filled trail through an ancient stand of cedars
leading to a cliff overlooking the ocean
where the Pacific Ocean battles
the Strait of Juan DeFuca
Cape Flattery a sacred site the Makah call
the beginning of the world
the earth undulating with shadows created by the sunlight filtering
and dancing through the branches and leaves
Komorebi in Japanese
emerging on a tracing at the edge of a cliff
vibrating from the force of waves
hurling massive logs against rock
embracing the fragile box of my father’s ashes
I sing the dirge I wrote in the hospital where
my father struggled for breath
slowly dying from the cigarettes he smoked to mask
the smell of whale blubber being turned into oil
at the rendering factory where he worked as a child
two shadows approach the cliff through the swirl
whale and calf pause fifty feet below me
mother rolls to gaze at me with one eye
then a sound…a song
a cetacean melody I should not be able to hear…but I do
sung as my father’s ashes scatter to the sea and the sky
welcoming the boy who smoked cigarettes because of whales
Mother and calf slip off into the silence of the sea
at the edge of the forest I look back and see my father’s ashes
swirling like smoke in the wind here
at the beginning of the world
Michael Coolen is a pianist, composer, actor, performance artist, and writer living in Oregon. In addition to three Fulbright Fellowships and four National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, he has won awards from the Oregon Poetry Association and the Oregon Writers Colony. His essay “Let Me Tell You How My Father Died” was awarded first prize in the 2017 national “Ageless Authors” competition. He’s been published in dozens of journals and online publications.
He’s a published composer, with works performed around the world, including at Carnegie Hall, New England Conservatory of Music, Museum of Modern Art, and the Christie Gallery.
Featured image “The End” by John Fowler BY CC 2.0
