My Father's Ashes

My father died while I was drunk
Funeral missed with a hangover

My sister read a letter I had written

None of it true

Shooting coffee in my veins
26 hour drive
My mother’s house was full

No one mentioned my absence

Angry looks from some
Disdain from others

Quietly I looked at his things
Remembering  
Hating all the same

I found his ashes
Placed in an urn my mother chose

I picked it up and left
No one noticed me slip out the back

We went for a drive
Without forced conversation

Ten years later All forgotten
I took my father to New Orleans

His beloved New Orleans

Red beans and rice at Bayona
Beignets at Cafe D’Monde
A walk through Jackson Square

I drove him to Biloxi
A beach he’d loved

Wild youth and dreams untried

I left him there among the sand
And warm ocean current

I never loved my father
But that day  
I did.