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.
Climbing Vesuvius in Stilettos
unruffled
standing serene
wet heat shimmers
thick and heavy
on her 70th birthday
sulfur scented
waves wafting
while she gazes
from the volcano’s base
at its pitted peak
her silver stilettos
sink slightly
into the fertile tephra
poised
motionless and regal
like the ballet dancer
she once was
ready for flight
tourists thronging
swarm past
their cleated boots
make vanishing indents
on their way up
impervious
leg delicately
outstretched
she steps forward
balancing seamlessly
on those spiky points
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Poetry in this post: © Jessica Ursell
Published with the permission of Jessica Ursell