Jesse Mavro Diamond ‘s poetry has been published in many journals in The U.S. Her awards include first place in Eidos magazine’s international poetry competition for “A Very Sober Story,” The Tennessee Williams Literary Festival’s “One of Ten Best Poems in the U.S.” for “Swimming The Hellespont. She was a finalist for 2014 Lascaux Poetry Prize and included in The Lascaux Prize Anthology 2014 for “Chetwynd Morning.” “An Elegy for Devron,” was musically scored by composer Mu Xuan Lin and premiered at Jordan Hall in 2008. For many years, Mavro Diamond has taught writing courses in Boston area colleges and high schools. She currently teaches English at Boston Latin School.

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The Uglies

Stormé called them the Uglies:
the bulldog ignorant bastards
who shouted, spat at, threw stones, tripped up,
kidnapped, raped, and beat ordinary loving folk.

There were cliques of the Uglies, gangs of the Uglies,
ugly politicians who pandered to the Uglies,
especially at election time.
Oh yes, especially then.

Stormé had two royal superpowers.

One:
She could detect Uglies from miles away,
in the darkest streets of Greenwich Village,
during a blinding rainstorm.
And because
She would never have let the Uglies attack
her loving girls without a damn good fight,

Two:
The ability against all the odds
to be victorious in the end.