The Southern Hemisphere

Jacob Eigen

They are out there somewhere,
the lovers at summer camp.
It’s February here. That means
they must be on the other side of the equator.
Soon their counselors will arrive
in golf carts, shining flashlights
to herd them back to their bunks.
Therefore they take this time
to whisper nothings to each other.
Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing,
nothing
, they whisper
in Australian accents. All of this
will be nothing. A journal entry
re: the scent of grass in the dark.

Jacob Eigen is a poet and fiction writer. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Salmagundi, The Iowa Review, and The New Republic.
Originally published:
September 1, 2020

Featured

Rachel Cusk

The novelist on the “feminine non-state of non-being”
Merve Emre

Books

Renaissance Women

A new book celebrates—and sells short—Shakespeare’s sisters
Catherine Nicholson

Fady Joudah

The poet on how the war in Gaza changed his work
Aria Aber

You Might Also Like



October

Jacob Eigen

Subscribe

New perspectives, enduring writing. Join a conversation 200 years in the making. Subscribe to our print journal and receive four beautiful issues per year.
Subscribe