~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Lola Willis

Jalou

Crow-haired Evangeline

built like a roughneck’s wet

nightmare, all violence

and frenzy-famous fists

this side of the Atchafalaya,

bawls and brawls on Fireball

neat, flip your boo’s

side-by-side head-over-heels

down the sweating levee.

Two-steps, her Rougarou

claws will split your ribs

like a fiddle at Parrain’s

mossy chin. Get back,

girl, unless you want

a dark prayer stinging

in your cypress-green eye.

Lola Willis (she/her) lives and writes in Leesville, Louisiana with her husband and six children. She lost her firstborn daughter, Rain, to suicide in May 2024, which fuels her poetry and activism for suicide awareness. Lola often writes about her upbringing and adult experiences in North Louisiana and Acadiana. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in both online and print publications, including flashquake, The Danforth Review, The Prairie Review, 318 Central and Boudin. She published her first collection of work entitled November Keepsakes, in 2024.