One Poem Only

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. Only Sleeping Jo Guzman The flavor of “Fuck you” smacked across my lips when I woke Not so much in anger More like calm clarity I touched my heart with my right hand The one that used to pledge allegiance to many things I believed the stories for so long The ones about love and heroes and good Until I realized the truth often d...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. 10 Things to Say When Meeting a Miracle Dana Kinsey ~for Miraku Uwadiae 1. I never knew a woman who skyscrapers a cornfield like you. 2. Life plucks Hope’s feathers, but you sew them back. Never pierce my skin. 3. Your “amen” translates into 500 languages, a Kapok tree teeming with animal sighs, a storm of Nigerian tears, a dog...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Lot: Vacant, Not Danielle Eleanor Lavalle Let me pick you a bouquet, cracked-asphalt-flowers — who do not know that they are garbage: Blue violet Chicory, straight, straight, straight, reaching for a Mediterranean sun that isn’t here Daisies at last, in neat clumps — safe from...

A daily reading from One Poem Only—a quiet space for a single poem, read aloud. Then maybe it would mean something E E Nisbet Then maybe it would mean something: If your sorry could un-scream, vacuum spit-sprayed particles, suck up fucks, threats and bullshit, Un-drink, choke it back into the glass, take back your money, If your sorry could drag up dregs of saline from blotted paper, Sculpt it bac...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Melancholy Ink Dita Indradi Sadness learned my name before I learned how to answer. It waits behind my teeth when I say I’m fine. I used to shake the moment I knew. Hands too loud. Breath missing. My heart running like it heard something I couldn’t. Heat rushing through narrow...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. Untamed Toni Young My hair is a cascade of the most unruly waves. I’ve flattened her with a straightener, but she identifies as unbridled. I’ve loaded her with products to keep her calm, but she prefers to burst through everything that weighs her down. I’ve since resigned myself to her defiance. When my friend said I reminded h...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. What We Don’t Put Away Nicole Shepherd It’s mid-April, and the Christmas tree is still up. I’ve stopped turning the lights on. The crinkled plastic branches block the window unit I’ll need next month. When I dragged the box out in November, the lights warmed the icy air— made m...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. Amalgamation Sophia James I walk to the top of the hill, The Sheffield hill That made my accent broad My legs - wide and sturdy, And my body - strong. The same body That my Mother’s Mother’s Mother had. The body that belongs to me, And in it, I belong. I stand at the top of the hill, Held up by my legs. I stick my belly out, My...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. Wonder Kerena Joseline After Tuvia Rubiner If after everything that has happened you can still hold your heavy heart with all the strength you have left, and brave one day at a time, if you can still hear those orange- breasted rufous treepies singing on the electric lines at dawn, and the sparrows with their yellow beaks... do...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Dystopian Dirges (United Healthcare) Amelia Wicker Rubbish or treasure Who is to measure The value of a life cast aside? Nickeled and dimed Without reason or rhyme Delayed and denied a day’s breath Who lives and who dies? Who’s the lord of the flies? This dystopian surmise too...

A daily reading from One Poem Only—a quiet space for a single poem, read aloud. Les Ondines Claire Shalhope I devote myself into secret gardens Where grey stone is covered in soft ivy that are full of whispers of your demurral Fleshy moss that sits beneath my toes, feeds my woes, and fumbles with our inhibitions The scarlet rose thorns may prick my thumb, But you'll oblige to taste my blood How se...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Homecoming Kara Dobias The world wants to be kind, I think. But too often, we are warned of its dangers before we can meet its light. I learned to live in the shadow of others’ fear and felt it manifest as my own, self-censoring the softest parts of me out of safety, but I’m be...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. “Once a palm reader told me” Ariel Kasha Once a palm reader told me my head and my heart line lay completely intertwined She called it "steamy palms" no separation between the two. she said it makes me an incredible lover but I would never be able to experience a casual connection. I asked if I could unzip my heart from skin an...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Cradle Meagan Sexton I feel storm-woven into exhale, loud rage of drum preludes river current tears. Lightening unlids origami eyes— folded corners open as wings of swan take flight to the light. Repression dissipates with release— we speak in tongue of stardust, tender bouts o...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. Tower Moment Belly Lux a little aftercare a little Sugar For The Pill playing low in the background Carharrt and red lace in puddles but there is no sun left for me and no more sunday kind of love Tobacco Vanille and one meal a day it’s the year of the skin, the year of rejection our world is locked up and my lips are zipped be...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. On the Roof I See Mirela Salihovic My little sister and I, When we’re in the tent, love to play a game. We call it: "On the roof I see..." And whoever’s turn it is says what they see on the tent’s roof. On the roof I see… Birds of all sizes. They land on the tent roof and tiptoe across the canvas with their tiny feet. They wand...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Crushed Peaches In Palm Paige Keller This poem was first featured in Mad Persona Magazine I am gathering my memories like peaches, plucking each from the most recluse of branches, filling up my baskets, my bruised knees - purple and blue Contrast these pristine fruits, bright a...

A daily reading from One Poem Only—a quiet space for a single poem, read aloud. Mastering the Pen Ellie Augustin I learned the weight of a pen the way warriors learn steel not in theory, but in the quiet repetition of showing up again. By survival. In my hand, it is not delicate. It is trained. It knows how to press into a sentence and when to lift, how to cut cleanly without tearing the page. I l...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. CAUTION: STUDENT DRIVER Carly Thompson I’ve jumped out of the boat the churning water turns to smoke my mind is a black sand beach the world is one of those where time is different slow, fast, all at once, almost never if a window doesn’t open, is it a wall? is it even there? the cows die all at once and we don’t ask why we buy...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. To Be a Salamander Rachel Turney I want to be like you. I crave your regenerative abilities. Does the heart count as a limb? If so, I could regrow the part that is now missing, rebuild sinuous tissues and the fat of my epicardium. I want to wallow in the petrichor and muddy places. I want to glide between the fallen leaves and...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Not mine anymore Avalon If my words are my own They are all that I have Except... that’s not quite right If my words are my own They abandon me when I most need it And, that never feels right My words are my own And they blink in and out A lighthouse on the shore While I’m drow...

A daily reading from One Poem Only—a quiet space for a single poem, read aloud. Butterscotch Amy Laessle-Morgan Somewhere between the amberblush streetlight of Division and the butterscotch stain on the back of my throat, there was a glasslike moment nearbent but not yet breaking. Half-formed, honeydrunk on the hour slipping past the soft machinery of becoming unbecoming rewinding rethreading. War...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now. “God, you can keep the boys” Peyton Michelle Bryant God, you can keep the boys who only write sad poetry and listen to The Smiths on repeat. God, my man is a warrior. Lord knows I’ve got enough words to feed the both of us when times get tough. My man writes poems with his hands. My man is not afraid to bloody his knuckles for...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Dear Personal Care Department God Chris Kads After Lancee Whetman God of the Personal Care Department, please grant me musk. Grant me the strength of “Steel Courage” - buffness in a bottle. Let my body be a vessel of “dragon’s breath” and “warrior’s blood”. Allow me, like men,...

A daily reading from One Poem Only—a quiet space for a single poem, read aloud. Ugly Bones by Ella B. Winters Ella B. Winters Behind the dusty radiator, green splashed like blood spray in a B-film, from that time when you decided to paint our bedroom in the middle of the night, I keep my poems hidden in a puce manila file so unremarkable, it chameleons into the background, pink tongue unfurling to...