Juan Pablo Mobili

Juan Pablo Mobili was born in Buenos Aires, and adopted by New York. His poems appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, Hanging Loose Press, South Florida Poetry Journal, Louisville Review, Impspired (UK), The Wild Word (Germany), and Otoliths (Australia), among others. His work has received multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net. His chapbook,  “Contraband,” was published in 2022, and he’s the Guest Editor for The Banyan Review’s Spring 2023 issue. https://thepoetrybox.com/bookstore/contraband

Scarly

     to my granddaughter, Scartlett Rose.

Not touching you is a penance,
a forced abstinence, I know

it will be years before we have
the chance to talk about

what is like to witness loss
first hand, but I’d tell you this

it took pretty much my whole life
to hold you without a hint of bitterness.

I was born light years before you, even
before your daddy and your mommy,

you are a descendant of a tribe
that struggled with their nature,

you are a granddaughter of storms.