Jake Onyett is a poet and U.S. Navy veteran who was born in Canada, raised in the United States, and currently lives in Italy. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Bologna. When not writing poetry, Jake can be found seated and working, hiking in the Alps with his family, or plotting future meals.
Big ego under salt, curly hair and pearly whites
Blue water, green even, give it to the sun
To decide, your elevation above the coast
To look down at all this madness, this beauty
Empty shells in your toes, they shoot their
Blanks every wave, every morning
And where are you, concrete-dwelling
Fool, with a hard, raging heart that likes
To pump, likes to DJ the party with
The beats, the pumping stand ups, sit
Downs, we’re all gonna die without algae
This acqua is too clear, the vino bianco too saline
The capperi too salty, we’re all gonna die
On this lido, in this hothouse
This bloodbath, this sauna of decision
I shake your hand, you kiss her cheek
We don the Speedo of doom, in turquoise
Grottoes, with wild ambient something
If you sing, I’ll kill you, I’ll put a salty
Rejoinder of a sharp index
Into the melon rind of your
Anchor-pulling neck
Poetry in this post: © Jake Onyett
Published with the permission of Jake Onyett