from What Henry Hudson Found
John McAuley
North by northwest:
Hudson was the first to steer
a ship by the dance
of a compass needle
first to put thread
thru the eye
later a map maker stitched his name
with quill & ink to that river & great bay
out of pity
rather than discovery, certainly
no Homer has sailed our Arctic Seas.
But the North Pole, Hudson sang
is simply a point
nothing but vanity where
the sun’s rays shine 5 months the year &
beyond the cold
itself a belt of 2 or 3 leagues width
you shall see grass not ice
no ice then
deep water sailing
into the Ocean of Chin, for Zipangu where
the palace roof was crowned
with molten gold.