YO NO SOY,

Jauregui, Argentina. 
Small factory town. 
Looms churn denim, cotton sheets
siesta heavy with their sound.

Here, children eat panchos–
lomo if you’re someone– 
if your father is the boss. Here,
charity’s private

you give your used things 
to your housemaid, then spot 
Paris, or your name, 
A – S – T – R – I – D, Astrid, 

on the wiry Sanchez girl, who says 
“Yo no soy Ahstri.” I am not Astrid. 

Yo no soy: I am not
Pancho: hot dog 
Lomo: Choice cut of beef. Loin.

Valy Steverlynck is an Argentine-American mother, artist, emerging poet and oyster farmer based in Maine. Valy’s poems have been published or are forthcoming in Poets Reading the News, Literary Mama, Panoplyzine, Gyroscope, West Tresle Review, Poetry Superhighway and Cider Press Review. Her visual work has been shown at multiple galleries and art museums including the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, DeCordova Museum, Fuller Museum of Art and Centro Recoleta, Argentina. When not tending to her oysters, Valy likes to take long hikes in the woods, swim in salt water and read. Valy is a graduate of Brown University and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Photo credit: Erin Little