Dan Power
Fishing for Barrels
A broken oil rig marks the grave,
the spot where tungsten drills
burst the seabed’s clotted vein,
where oil still bleeds, rising to the surface
in tight black balloons
and forming a skin, a scab on the wound.
A gannet hauls itself to shore
for decommissioning.
Its legs and wings are a busted scaffold.
Cod tumble on the waves, their bodies
sacked by feverish gulls.
Fishermen stand in their boats, reeling.
Dan Power was shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. His poems have appeared in Magma, Poetry Ireland Review, Berlin Lit, Spam, on NTS Radio, and more. His pamphlet Memory Foam was published by Doomsday Press in 2023.