Juan Pablo Mobili
A Bloom of Jasmine for Victoria
This bloom comes from your garden,
the one you planted as the young wife
of a man who worked hard at becoming
but could never walk far enough
from the foundry of his beginnings.
This bloom was once floating in the small glass
by your bed the day, still a boy, I came
to say goodbye although no one told me
what our visit was about.
The jasmine is for you, and for me
it is the memory of your fingers peeling
grapes, the roses that you tended
and never left the rosebush,
the storm of petals that rained down
from the old magnolia tree
when I swayed from its branches.
Bio
Juan Pablo Mobili was born in Buenos Aires. His poems appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, Hanging Loose Press, Louisville Review, among others, as well as publications in Europe, Asia and Australia. In addition to this, his work has received multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize, and his chapbook, "Contraband," was published in 2022. Most recently, he has been the Guest Editor for The Banyan Review's Spring 2023 issue.