from Deepwater Horizon, Part 1

by Daniel Wolff

Ill-plumed, the sea crashes.

Men in tank suits try to re-boot,

while their wives and daughters wait in shrimp factories,

hands gnarled over nothing.

An aerial shot reveals a hole in the earth.

What gushes darkly through blue waters

isn’t life blood, but power. Or, the makings of power:

that which someday will be refined.

If we could gain control, then what?

Or, more to the point, how long? Sea turtles scrim sand beaches,

dig shallow ovals, never to discover the eggs they deposit

turn into pearls of tar.

Far out on the curved horizon, a rig rides heroic.

We rule. From the frail call of the least tern

to the blue fluke of the giant tuna,

our hunger trumps.

Already it drapes the coral reef

in still ribbons of black.

Daniel Wolff has or will have work in APR, Raritan, The Literary Review, among others. His most recent non-fiction book is “How Lincoln Learned to Read.” He is a producer on Jonathan Demme’s documentary, “I’m Carolyn Parker,” and his lyrics appear on Steve Elson’s “Mott & Broome.” If you’d like to read the rest of Deepwater Horizon, contact ziwolff@optonline.net