MAGNETIC DEVIATION - Poem

 

MAGNETIC DEVIATION
.
(Copyright 2022 by Dave Kiffer)
.
There have been times
When I have faced North
and my compass has aimed
Due South.
                    This I know
Because all water runs south
In this wooden world.
                                    And
The rain drains from my heels
Into the North Pacific Ocean.
.
But the iron in the air pulls
The needle waywardly
                                    South.
As if telling me
The direction I want to go
Is wrong, wronger than spit
In a forty-knot wind.
                                    Just
like the one icing my sweat
to my cheeks as I ponder
The shortest distance
Between life
                        And death.

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