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.

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