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.

from What Henry Hudson Found

John McAuley