The Navigational Fix
       

For a good fix, we need two lines, 45 degrees
apart, to meet, one leg of the dividers anchored,

the other swinging on its arc until
the lines intersect, X saying here—

this moment wrenched from time, plumbed
in place. I spread the divider's metal legs,

measure degrees in seconds, minutes, hours,
gauge speed made good, prick one small foot,

drag its lead twin in an arc, an easy pivot.
Then the next. Take a bearing off the lighthouse,

another arc, and where the two overlap
a sprawling X
                    but already we've moved on.

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Copyright © 2014 Holly J. Hughes All rights reserved
from Sailing by Ravens
University of Alaska Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission