Dead Reckoning

to approximate one’s position based on estimated movements

from a previously known location

the hottest day that August, a dog's flat back extends

in a plumed curve of 21 discs swaying like a lazy metronome

                                           *

at midnight a man grabs a full third of all the stars, throws

them at the bedroom window in the worst hailstorm that year

                                            *

from a pile of crumbs gathered at the outskirts of the kitchen

table, he calculates  love = time ÷ cake

                                             *

his sloop casts off from Boston Harbor, re-imagines a circle,

returning 3 years later between the covers of a book

                                              *

set and drift result in errors accumulating– any wayfinder 

can lose their way home in the billow of bed sheets 

                                               *

she counts 21 footsteps to the end of the yard, raises her hand

to hide the waxing moon under her outstretched thumb

Barbara Barnes