Jesse Keith Butler

Jesse Keith Butler lives with his wife and two children in Ottawa, Ontario. His poetry has been published in various journals, including THINK, Ekstasis Magazine, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Better than Starbucks, and Cloud Lake Literary. His first book, The Living Law, is forthcoming from Darkly Bright Press.

Villanelle for the Elect

So Jacob was loved, and Esau was hated.

It seems a bit of an uneven deal.

You won’t stop creating this world you’ve created.

If Esau had hope it was quickly deflated.

The subtle supplanter had him by the heel.

But Jacob was loved, and Esau was hated.

Outside of the city, with heaven ungated

and rungs reaching down, Jacob glimpsed what was real —

you still were creating this world you’d created.

Poor Esau found Jacob’s thin soup overrated

when robbed of his birthright for one meatless meal.

Yet Jacob was loved, and Esau was hated.

You grappled with Jacob. He grunted and grated

while you danced, delighted to meet with such zeal

as you kept creating this world you’d created.

There’s purpose in life but the path isn’t fated.

You unspool these urgings we don’t even feel.

And Jacob was loved. And Esau was hated.

You keep on creating this world you’ve created.

Originally published by Darkly Bright Press.

Read Jesse’s work and more in Solum Journal Fall 2022.