A United States Air Force veteran, poet, and advocate for social justice, Jessica Ursell lives with her husband in the cradle of the Campi Flegrei in Southern Italy. Inspired by the cerulean sea, and strong scent of espresso at her favorite pasticceria, Jessica writes about love, power, finding one’s voice, and the mesmeric magic of il bel paese. Her two most recent poems, I Can Walk Through Walls of Words, and Mariupol Madonna: an elegy for the mothers of Ukraine appear in Academy of the Heart and Mind on 14 December 2024 and in Versopolis Poetry Expo in 2025 respectively. Her poems and essays have been published by Writing in a Woman’s Voice; Ritualwell; Down in the Dirt magazine (v. 216 Scars Publications) as well as in the book, The Limits of Language, and the book Where Icarus Went; Fellowship & Fairydust; The Jewish Writing Project; and Iron Words: Israel War Stories.
outside our shuttered persianas
Vesuvius slumbers in the distance
closer in Pozzuoli
whispers and secrets
susurration
from the crust
the earth murmurs
as do you
while I float above our mattress
The Queen
rhapsody
your sweet heat
rising in wisps
up up
frozen before
now I glow
are you remembering
that other mattress
that other life
in rural ramshackle Alabama
we slept under the stars
by the dock
we almost lovers
then
falling falling
limbs and lives
now
coming together
cradled in the caldera
of the Campi Flegrei
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Poetry in this post: © Jessica Ursell
Published with the permission of Jessica Ursell