(Joseph MacRae, published in Legacy lines: Poems inspired by LGBTQI+ Poets of the Past, edited by Daisy Barrett-Nash, Equal Arts, April, 2025. Prompt from August 28, 2024, feast day of the Dormition of the Mother of God (old calendar) and Our Lady of Kiev. Image from here.)
Standing Helm Watch Today
Standing Helm watch today
one hand on a tiny joystick
watching a Dell computer screen.
See a red line scrolling through a digital map.
No need for a compass.
Just like a computer game, just like a computer game.
Not many of us remember
running on dead Reckoning.
I long to be back on an old wooden vessel
standing my watch as the propeller turns.
Thrusting water against the rudder, can feel it against the wheel.
Gently rocking in your hands, gently rocking in your hands.
Steering by a compass
Reading your charts
Using the aid of lighthouses, landmarks
Reading the buoys
Using radio direction to find beacons
No need for them today, no need for them today.
Now we have GPS
Global repositioning system.
A plotter on our onboard screen.
So with the passing of time
is the passing of a romantic era
In an old Sailor's life, in an old sailor's life.
*From prompt: Write of something longed for, past, present, or future (in this case the longing for miracles). Daisy Barrett-Nash’s Legacy Lines (Writers at Play), August 28, 2024.
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