by Sean Carlton, Luke Brannon, Michael Dylan Welch, Beki Reese Van Buren, Trixie Lynn, and Billie Dee
First published in Uncharted Territory, the 2024 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology, Haiku Northwest Press, 2025, page 38. Originally written 25 October 2024, in the Pines Building at the Seabeck Conference Center in Seabeck, Washington, to fit the weekend’s theme of maps. Trixie Lynn is a fictitious name, suggested by Billie for a verse we wrote together because we had only five participants but needed a sixth to fit the rengay pattern.
old map . . .
searching for a country
yet to exist Sean
North recharted
cloudless night Luke
on the seabed
after the fire
captain’s compass Michael
spin of the globe—
my finger lands on
Tasmania Beki
the GPS
still recalculating Trixie
dead reckoning
our course leads
to the dragon’s maw Billie