Mango Languages
on his deathbed he lay
learning Italian one phrase
at a time from a free app
I downloaded for him
from the public library.
my daughter asked him why
learn something new now, grandpa?
what’s the point?
I think you mean perché he said
and that was his final word.
*
John Arthur is a writer and musician from New Jersey. He is the 2025 Grand Prize winner of The Poetry Box’s chapbook contest for Lucy the Elephant Wins in a Landslide, which will be released early in 2026. His work has appeared in Rattle, DIAGRAM, Failbetter, trampset, ONE ART, Frogpond, and many other places.
So beautiful!
This lifted my spirit.
I want the forthcoming book. Wonderful poem.