Poetry and Prose by Wess Mongo Jolley

Selections Available on Wattpad
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Selections Available on Wattpad

Excavation

Excavation They found my fossilized remainswhile excavating a freeway on-ramp.They were encased in volcanicrock, millions of years old.In fact you can still see the site today,abandoned within the cloverleaf of I-89. Of course, after the constructionall that remains is a vague outline—a foot, some hair, a couple teeth.And there isn’t even a plaqueto memorialize the …

Emily’s Legacy

Emily’s Legacy Emily Dickinson’s sunlit horsesand snakes sliding through the grasslive now on a New England farmwhere they look over bailsof freshly mowed hayand miss their patron terribly The northeast pastoralhas a long memorybut only back to Emilywho shuttered her windowswhen the ladies came to callbut never shooed away the beeor shrank back from the …

Distant Thunder

Distant Thunder I. The First Year Somewhere, off our mountain,the rumors say oldbattles continue. But here the sun is warm,and distant wars meanlittle to hummingbirds. News can be slow to reach us,and harder stillto comprehend. Yes, we know they are dying still.But the planes don’t fly overhere anymore, and although the thunder can sometimes soundlike …

Business Expenditures

Business Expenditures I unpack my lustin cheap hotel roomsof cities I’ll never see. I toss him carelesslywith my change and roomkey onto the nightstand, Where my lust sits forgottenas I shower and gaze into thenight, dripping with neon. My fingertips paint runes onclouded glass, and we hearlaughter across the hall. Fresh and clean andnewly dressed, …

Ben

Ben You say     you don’t like poetry     don’t want to hear it     just never got it     and I swoon because     your air in my lungs     wants to thicken into words     birth verses composed     of our mingled spit     two tongues     that nose playfully in the rain     stanzas of falling sweat     strophes written with a single finger     …