diff --git a/libs/canvas/item.cc b/libs/canvas/item.cc
index a6a355951b..78d19082a7 100644
--- a/libs/canvas/item.cc
+++ b/libs/canvas/item.cc
@@ -797,11 +797,13 @@ Item::covers (Duple const & point) const
 	Duple p = window_to_item (point);
 
 	if (_bounding_box_dirty) {
-		compute_bounding_box ();
+		(void) bounding_box ();
 	}
 
 	Rect r = bounding_box();
 
+	/* bounding box uses item coordinates, with _position as the origin */
+
 	if (!r) {
 		return false;
 	}