Dead reckoning

I remember when ships were dreams

Whose sails were the future and the past

Their bows cut through mermaids

Sperm whales and deep blue mystery

Nautical directions connected

Stars and the sea

Determining time in consultation with 

The Moon and Horizon 

*

The triangular clock ticks

I board a small boat in the bay

And discover sea sickness

I learn about tsunamis

Read of mass death and destruction

Sailors in white

In my city for a night

Grinning and dancing

Turning red and then blue

Ships of wood on land or in the sky

Anywhere but in the sea

*

Islands come in all sizes and shapes

I buy one for dinner at the corner store

A sail comes over the horizon and

Disappears the next day

I sigh with disappointment 

My island changes shape

Today it is Times Square

An elegant woman with a trailing sash crosses the street 

I wonder, where is she off to?

I blink and realize she is a gaunt and shirtless man

Dragging a blanket 

*

I assess my position, accounting for drift

The Moon and the Horizon have eloped 

I am left alone to calculate without tools

My ship upside down and then right side up

The stars the sea and the sea the stars

Time catches a new current

The Ship reappears on the horizon and 

Sails to shore