American Pastoral


Some days I am happy to be no one
The shifting grasses

In the May winds are miraculous enough
As they ripple through the meadow of lupine

The field as iridescent as a Renaissance heaven
& do you see that boy with his arms raised

Like one of Raphael’s angels held within
This hush & this pause & the sky’s lapis expanse?

That boy is my son & I am his only [mother]
Even when I am no one
 -David St. John