John Yohe

The Southern Cross

 

On the all-night bus from Santiago

down to Puerto Montt
a girl with a beautiful smile
sat next to me in the aisle seat
 
where was I from
where was I going
and at one stop
bought me a Coke
and a bag of potato chips
 
the sky got dark
she pointed out the Southern Cross
which I’d never seen
 
she started to doze
but couldn’t get comfortable—
her head kept dropping to her chest
 
so I got up the courage
to tell her she could rest her head
on my shoulder
if she wanted
 
her eyes got wide
she turned away
didn’t look at me again
and in the middle of the night
got off at some small town
without saying anything
 
the Southern Cross
is actually kind of small
and doesn’t even really look like a cross
anyway
 
#
 
John Yohe holds a MFA in Poetry Writing from The New School for Social Research, and a MA in The Teaching of Writing from Eastern Michigan University. His first full-length collection of poetry, What Nothing Reveals, is out now. A complete list of his publications, and poetry, fiction and non-fiction writing samples can be found at his website: www.johnyohe.com