The Boy Inside the Whale
We leave certain things behind when we visit each other, like my dear friend who tells me his youngest son died, and leaves the dear boy roaming inside my body. I feel like the whale felt when Jonah was about to be freed from its belly, leaving behind, perhaps, a clavicle, a prayer he might have needed later, or the last remains of his hope that men and flowers will find their way to resurrection.
A boy rides the crest
of his parting, the taste
of salt still on his lips.
Juan Pablo Mobili was born in Buenos Aires, and adopted by New York. His poems appeared in Tupelo Quarterly, Worcester Review, Louisville Review, and Hanging Loose Press, among others, and also publications in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. He received multiple Pushcart nominations, and his chapbook, Contraband, was published in 2022. In January of 2025, he became Poet Laureate of Rockland County, New York.
Amethyst Review 