September 19, 2016 | Occasus | Issue 6 | Poetry
She Waits for the Bus and Muses About Life
It’s 20 degrees below and I’m sitting
In the bus stop: waiting. My mind wanders as it grows numb with cold. At home a letter of acceptance waits On the messy dining room table For me to tell it if I’m coming. (My ex goes there.) I could say no. And then maybe some other Canadian, freezing and hopeful Would take my place. He could be number 26 out of 25. Just not quite close enough. And my denial would give him the opportunity to learn. Maybe I should say no. A man sits beside me, dressed in suit and tie. Job interview? I wonder, if he missed the bus, What would happen? Ten years from now he’d live in a trailer, poor. Or take the free time and invent the next iPod, Donate money to Rwanda, Become President. I wonder: what is I that makes us What we are? Collections of musical taste and favourite colours Promising to call when we know we won’t Or taking the bus to a job interview Two hours early Just in case. Say I left right now to get a coffee (trying to escape the freezing cold) And came back just as the bus and the man in the suit Had gone. So I walk home, and meet the love of my life, forget about The Ex And rip up the acceptance letter to travel Europe. The bus pulls up and because it’s cold And I’m tired, And also want to see where the man gets off I get on. He’ll nail the interview, and work 9-5 every day, Never knowing that one day a girl wrote a poem about him While waiting for the bus, Got a good mark, Kept her scholarships And left behind an entire life Of espresso And croissants. |
ELANA KATZ is a first year student at the University of Western Ontario pursuing an Honors Specialization in English and Writing and a Major in the School for Advanced Studies in Arts and Humanities.