Mantis 19 (Spring 2021)
Multilingualism

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Jacob Troia

and*and*and

This human      expansion
                       experience
                       expectation
was supposed to be
exponential, pero
x is
y3 no sé cómo casar
el principio
con el final—
¿some crazy excursión?
Growth and Decay;
Ambos se
                       desvanecen

On Echoes

Amid the dismay
drove to the mountains today
see what they had t’say.

I have seen quite ‘nough
and they had been here long ‘nough
to humble me now

in a deep silence
harmonizing my father’s
own voice, on repeat:

“Endure, child, endure.
Evolution takes gen’rations
by definition.

Here still, we stand strong,
amid erosion, amid
the population.

Endure, child, endure.
Evolution takes gen’rations,
Don’t lose insp’ration.”

JACOB TROIA is a poet and a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago where he studied American literature and poetics. His own poetry has garnered grants and scholarships, and he is currently finalizing a new manuscript titled Empty Flight. Jacob’s work seeks to echo the natural themes of the Romantic era while also grappling with the friction of modern American society.