Sadly, my father, Daniel Bloomfield passed away on September 3, 2015 at the young age of 57.
I wrote this poem a few days after my father died. I was in the marine life wing of the Natural History Museum in New York City, looking up at the gigantic blue whale and recalling all the wonderful times that he and I shared on the ocean. That’s when the reality of his death truly hit me.
Beneath The Whale
let me sink to the bottom of the sea
and stare at the underside of waves
silent blue
where I can see the wind
but neither hear
nor feel it
salty solemnity
haunt me please
dissolve my anger
let me rest on a cushion of silt
as I remember that you taught me
how to fish
and dispersed Room Noodles
from your fingers
to ward off the nameless things
that lurked in the dark
and made me say
boy oh boy
am I enthusiastic
every morning before my socks
were wet with dew
I can catch a lobster
dock a boat
and tie several knots
I owe you that
I am 10 years old
I swim down
down to the sea floor
you take my hand
and squeeze it
squeeze it like you’re
trying to kill a small animal
you give me your regulator
and I breathe your air
we are weightless
you are calm and peaceful
when your air runs out
on the bottom of the sea
or propped up in bed
with the TV remote in your hand
poppy
dancing on docks
the clink of your spoon on
the ice cream bowl
your Miami Dolphins voodoo
that never worked
we all knew there
was nothing more
for you here
so ascend now
father
ascend