Pan and Nymph, Schenley Plaza
Jason Barry

Quite ravishing in the flush of evening light,
a song to nature, Pan’s hollow, elemental
torso and his hands—spirited as the will—
below the flowing fabric of her skirt.
On the moss-grown rim of the clam shell
basin, cardinal turtles make a play
of water, their shadows bubbling up to meet
the plash, obscuring wished-on pennies,
cigarettes, a drowned Yuengling cap.
Yet just beyond this cool summer spray,
a smiling face and signs with glossy text:
‘No Room for Satan.’ ‘His Love is Happiness.’
I step now past the man’s display, find a bench
beside the gravel path. A plump raccoon
emerges from the depths, eyes reach for scraps,
till hind claws slip into the waste bin, and cups splash.

Jason Barry holds a Master’s in Applied Linguistics from the University of Oxford and an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University. A finalist for the 2025 Donald Justice Prize, his poems have appeared in Subtropics, 32 Poems, Barrow Street, Poetry Ireland Review, Literary Matters, Cimarron Review, The Cortland Review, Bad Lilies, Thrush Poetry Journal, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. His chapbook, Fossil & Wing, won the Wil Mills Award at the West Chester University Poetry Center, and his work has been featured on The Slowdown. Jason has been offered scholarships and grants from the Poetry Society of America, Boston University, Poetry by the Sea, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.