Constellations
"See those constellations?"
my youngest son calls from his bedroom window.
I drag myself out to the veranda
and stare up at the night sky.
Drawing ancient myths,
the sky makes us count infinite stars.
Which constellations does he mean?
He's not yet tall enough to see
any ancient myth.
He rattles off the names of the gods
and says his school stands beneath those stars,
my office is underneath
a constellation on the other side.
Funnily enough, he isn't far off.
He sees the stars
much closer than
his school or my office.
A retired high school science teacher, Yoshiro Takayasu lives in Togane, Chiba with his wife and fellow poet Mitsuko.
He is the author of several poetry collections, including Mukashi mukashi (1982) and Jigenkyo (1987), as well as the short story collections
Omagatoki (1999) and Yamazakura (2017). His work has recently appeared in Deluge, Eunoia Review, Foliate Oak, Gravel, and Literary Yard.
