American Gothic by John Stone

Just outside the frame

there has to be a dog

chickens, cows and hay

and a smokehouse

where a ham in hickory

is also being preserved

Here for all time

the borders of the Gothic window

anticipate the ribs

of the house

the tines of the pitchfork

repeat the triumph

of his overalls

and front and center

the long faces, the sober lips

above the upright spines

of this couple

arrested in the name of art

These two

by now

the sun this high

ought to be

in mortal time

about their businesses

Instead they linger here

within the patient fabric

of the lives they wove

he asking the artist silently

how much longer

and worrying about the crops

she no less concerned about the crops

but more to the point just now

whether she remembered

to turn off the stove.