Enough

[matsunosuperfan]

When I was a boy
On our farm in Kentucky
I would lay on my back in a field
Of tall, golden broomsedge,
Hidden from all the world
Beneath a yellow sun and azure sky
Surrounded by warm golden light,
With puffs of cloud floating by,
A redtail hawk soaring,
Whistling,
Owning the sky.
It was enough.
It was enough.

This is a lovely small poem and I admire its willingness to be small. I don't confuse that with a lack of ambition. The poem's final declaration kind of self-advocates for its poetics. I find this effective, but also a bit perilous - there's a risk of a whiff of solipsism intruding, if we're not fully convinced that this all is "enough." 

I think we mostly are convinced. I wonder if the poem might benefit from a more palpable contrastive element - if it's so revelatory that this was enough, who or what is often telling the speaker that it isn't? "Hidden from all the world" kind of has to do a lot of heavy lifting here. On the one hand, the poem's vagueness is a benefit, as we are free to apply the implicative gestures to whatever target feels appropriate to us. On the other hand, this vagueness could be unsatisfying in the sense that the poem really doesn't do much to direct our affect. It's affective, but to what specific end? 

In keeping with this worry, I feel like asking for more from language like "yellow sun and azure sky." I get that we're reifying simplicity, but these are just cliches. Ditto for "warm golden light" and "puffs of clouds." Do we also want to praise cliche? One begins to question whether the execution is living up to the good intent. 

First two lines are pretty boring, anti-hook territory, which again may be "the point" but doesn't stop me from being somewhat bored initially. 

"Lay on my back in a field of tall, golden broomsedge" is my favorite moment. To me this strikes the balance between particular and recognizably universal that this poem wants to operate in.