Poem Renaissance – Wess Mongo Jolley

Gyroscope Review is celebrating National Poetry Month with a Poem Renaissance, a review of previously published poems looking for new life and new views. Every day through May 20^th, a new poem to fall in love with all over again.

Gen Z
by Wess Mongo Jolley

this is our time

hail to us the
skateboard warriors
the low-riding kings
of the guardrail

dudes of the street
and inheritor of this
great stained american
promise
 
in our silver chains and
skull-encrusted hoodies
we’ll strain under our
resentment and burnish
it to crystal

we’ll fill our hookahs
with your melted ice 
caps and build the world’s 
biggest half pipe under 
your capitol dome
 
as your waters rise our pants 
will droop as your despair 
rages we’ll turn up the 
volume and when you finally 
give up all hope it will be 
our turn at the wheel

our ascension to
the throne will be
sweeter if you moan

we will wipe this world
clean of your excesses
a blank canvas for
us to paint new
images of our rage
 
and yes there will be hope
a virgin moment a new 
beginning a primal spark
that you will not
live to see
 
we will invent the world 
and it will be beautiful
it will be terrifying
it will be something 
never before seen
 
and we will not let 
the sad story of
your downfall

become the 
stuff of 
myth


                    Published in Mobius, in May of 2023 http://mobiusmagazine.com/poetry/genz.html



Wess Mongo Jolley is a Canadian novelist, editor, podcaster, and poet, most well-known for hosting the IndieFeed Performance Poetry Channel for ten years. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and has appeared in journals such as The Malahat Review, Grain, Off the Coast, PANK, Danse Macabre, and Apparition Literary Magazine. His horror trilogy, The Last Handful of Clover, is available on Patreon, Wattpad, QSaltLake, and as an audiobook podcast. Mongo writes from his home in Montreal, Quebec. Find him at http://wessmongojolley.com

Don’t forget to read the Spring 2025 Issue, available now, online and in print

Previous Renaissance Poets

April Poets

May Poets

Ralph Stevens