The screw of a tug stirs the night,

thrums the chest like a heart in blood.

 

Does it fight? Yes.

Its iron mass displaces fear

 

if fear is a kind of tide.

Inside its cabin, a wakeful captain

 

compares the bright ideal of charts

with what he sees outside.

 

The diesel pushes goods to port

and, whether or not it turns a profit,

 

turns away: back into the market.

Hear the hollow chest.

 

|||

 

Daniel Wolff‘s “Tug (Into the Market)” is taken from More Poems About Money, which will be published in the foreseeable future by Four Way Books. His latest chapbook, Ayiti, came out through Finishing Line Press, and his previous collection, The Names of Birds, was also from Four Way Books. Wolff has previously appeared a number of times in TLR. (PHOTO: CHRIS BUHALIS)

 

 

READ NEXT IN TLR REVOLUTION:
BROOKES MOODY “PORTRAIT OF A GUY“