do not ask me what I felt as I watched the people
hurled like broken branches
crushed into crimson rain
by vengeance masquerading as honor
do not ask me what I thought as I heard
the screams of children
and the moaning of dying parents
no longer able to comfort
do not ask me why I wept
as on a muted screen I watched
the devastation and horror
fanatics view as karma
only magnified my sorrow
do not ask such ignorant questions
ask me how I sobbed when my daughter, mother, wife…
my infant sons exploded into misty scarlet droplets
as they crawled to reach my arms
in Aleppo three months ago
then ask me if I’ll ever pray again
Author Bio:
Michael Coolen is a pianist, composer, actor, and writer living in Oregon. His writings have drawn extensively from his career as an ethnomusicologist studying music and cultures around the world, particularly in Africa. He is a published composer, with compositions have been performed around the world, including at Carnegie Hall, New England Conservatory of Music, Museum of Modern Art, and the Christie Gallery. He approaches his writing as if they were musical compositions, balancing words and prosody as if they were melodies and accompaniment in a larger form. He has had a lifelong fascination with the connections between music and mathematics, and he has often used structures like the Golden Mean, the Fibonacci series, and other mathematical equations in his writing.
Over the years, he has been honored with three Fulbright Fellowships and four National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships. His poems and essays have won awards from the Oregon Poetry Association and the Oregon Writers Colony. He’s been published in Oregon Humanities, The Gold Man Review, Best Travel Stories, Clementine Poetry Journal, Creative Writing Institute, Rats Ass Review, Broken Plate Poetry Magazine, The Poetry Quarterly, et al.
hurled like broken branches
crushed into crimson rain
by vengeance masquerading as honor
do not ask me what I thought as I heard
the screams of children
and the moaning of dying parents
no longer able to comfort
do not ask me why I wept
as on a muted screen I watched
the devastation and horror
fanatics view as karma
only magnified my sorrow
do not ask such ignorant questions
ask me how I sobbed when my daughter, mother, wife…
my infant sons exploded into misty scarlet droplets
as they crawled to reach my arms
in Aleppo three months ago
then ask me if I’ll ever pray again
Author Bio:
Michael Coolen is a pianist, composer, actor, and writer living in Oregon. His writings have drawn extensively from his career as an ethnomusicologist studying music and cultures around the world, particularly in Africa. He is a published composer, with compositions have been performed around the world, including at Carnegie Hall, New England Conservatory of Music, Museum of Modern Art, and the Christie Gallery. He approaches his writing as if they were musical compositions, balancing words and prosody as if they were melodies and accompaniment in a larger form. He has had a lifelong fascination with the connections between music and mathematics, and he has often used structures like the Golden Mean, the Fibonacci series, and other mathematical equations in his writing.
Over the years, he has been honored with three Fulbright Fellowships and four National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships. His poems and essays have won awards from the Oregon Poetry Association and the Oregon Writers Colony. He’s been published in Oregon Humanities, The Gold Man Review, Best Travel Stories, Clementine Poetry Journal, Creative Writing Institute, Rats Ass Review, Broken Plate Poetry Magazine, The Poetry Quarterly, et al.
RSS Feed