Monologue of a Commercial Fisherman

“If you work a body of water and a body of woman

you can take fish out of one and children out of the other

for the two kinds of survival. The fishing is good,

both kinds are adequate in pleasures and yield,

but the hard work and the miseries are killing;

it is a good life if life is good. If not, not.

You are out in the world and in in the world,

having it both ways: it is sportive and prevenient living

combined, although you have to think about the weathers

and the hard work and the miseries are what I said.

It runs on like water, quickly, under the boat,

then slowly like the sand dunes under the house.

You survive by yourself by the one fish for a while

and then by the other afterward when you run out.

You run out a hooky life baited with good times,

and whether the catch is caught or not is a question

for those who go fishing for men or among them for things.”

Copyright Credit: Alan Dugan, “Monologue of a Commercial Fisherman” from Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry. Copyright © 2001 by Alan Dugan. Reprinted by permission of Seven Stories Press, www.sevenstories.com.

Source: Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry (Seven Stories Press, 2001)