One Poem Only

Wednesdays on One Poem Only are a double feature: one poem here on the podcast, and one more by the same poet shared on Instagram.SnailLizzie Elliot-KleinIn your spiral shellyou hold the answer –slowness is radical.From the ash pileof my burn out,I see you everywhere.Clinging to walls,meandering through moss,criss-crossing my path.Reaching unbelievable heightsat speeds that will win no medals –just savouring thesilvery slownessof yourtrail.In your spiral shellyou hold the answer –softness is strength.Inching forward on vulnerable ripples,retreating when the wo...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now.Tony and/or ToneeNguyen Minh TriThe "y" is a hook, a barb in the ground,A heavy-set anchor, a masculine sound.It carries the dust of the fathers and sons,My father and his son.The weight of the "Tony" who follows/ who runs,A name like a suit that is tailored too tight,Designed for the sun, yet afraid of the light.To them, it’s a letter/ to me, it’s a wall,A clanking vibration that...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. PlutocracyAlicia SwainIn kitchens drops will drip, each brown in hue,a mother will keep her son from the truth,the senate will swear there’s nothing to do,though they tout their care for the nation’s youth.A man will cast his vote at ten to noon,his ballot broken down in only two,he lives inside a fading honeymoonwith good intentions, having not a clue:disease inside him ticks...

One Poem More gathers all of this week’s poems from One Poem Only—an unhurried chance to listen again, or catch what you missed.This week’s poemsOperating Instructions for the Day After Your Best Friend Tells You He Supports Genocide by Jané DowdSwan Dive by Maia von MaltzahnCycles by S. SalazarAn Emblem of Wounds by Henry Opeyemimortal perch by Amanda ThuyA Dream by Edgar Allan PoePlus one new one to carry us into the week aheadCling to MeMaggie DeversI lay on the Califor...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now.A DreamEdgar Allan PoeIn visions of the dark nightI have dreamed of joy departedBut a waking dream of life and lightHath left me broken-hearted.Ah! what is not a dream by dayTo him whose eyes are castOn things around him with a rayTurned back upon the past?That holy dream that holy dream,While all the world were chiding,Hath cheered me as a lovely beam,A lonely spirit guiding.What though that light, thro...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise.mortal perchAmanda Thuyupon a mortal perch i scribe away my lonely parts,pulled from deepest chasm of this broken heart.a treasure trove of loss and tattered dreams,befitting muse which in the dark sits agleam.heartache wrapped in anguished words seeking sanity,mutated from once tightly held soliloquy.harrowing thoughts bleed from fissures of speaking heart,seeping through veins and through fingers now depart.all unspoken peers now in...

A daily reading from One Poem Only—a quiet space for a single poem, read aloud.An Emblem of WoundsHenry OpeyemiWe are in the middle of a conversation, thereflection of our lives upon glossy waters.We’re twice the age we used to be, shadinghome into grief, into a childhood memory.there is an ophicleide infused in the distance ofsouls, singing into the littleness of a heaven: aprayer old enough for the heaviness I have carried.a boy from my childhood recognizes me by a face I no longer wear, by a stil...

Wednesdays on One Poem Only are a double feature: one poem here on the podcast, and one more by the same poet shared on Instagram.CyclesS. SalazarThe space in which my family occupies is a revolving door—each rotation moves me further from their timelines.Yet turning to push the door in reversewon’t take me back to a time with them:to picnics beneath the Central Park oaksor a game of tag among Puerto Rican palms.I existed decades after Abuelo exited the door.I stepped between the panes of glassjust as A...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now.Swan Dive by Maia von MaltzahnMaia von MaltzahnIt’s the kind of hotafternoon in Augustwhere the sun cracksyour mouth openso you can takea big gulp oflifeChin tuckedwind-up lanky-limbsbare brownedshoulders humin the heatrunning warmwooden dockbeneath your feet, stepone, two, andLeap…gravitygreetsyoulike a pinky-promisein the lakewater answerswith a laughing splashyou elegant creaturehere, you belong.More from Maia von Maltzahn ↓@maiaelizabethwrites on InstagramSupport + Stay Connected to OPOI...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. Operating Instructions for the Day After Your Best Friend Tells You He Supports GenocideJané DowdUpon waking: breathe deep.Savour the shimmer of momentary freedom,lack of memory and regret.Surround yourself with three dogs:sentinels; triumvirate.Check the curtain crack for signs of dawn.When the child stirs, relish her aliveness.As the small ghosts arise in protest,cup their faces in your bloody hands,whisper the useless lament:I am...

One Poem More gathers all of this week’s poems from One Poem Only—an unhurried chance to listen again, or catch what you missed.This week’s poemsno place like home by Abhilasha GhoshThe mind unmasked by Aliyah Morayoborderline by Luna FergusonInedible by Seraadulthood by Carlee WilsonTo My Daughter Elizabeth by Mary Ann H. T. BigelowPlus one new one to carry us into the week aheadThe CallMaggie DeversThey woke in slumberAnd settled in the streetsThey counted transgressionsLike it was food to eatThe bl...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now.To My Daughter ElizabethMary Ann H. T. BigelowTwo flowers upon one parent stemTogether bloomed for many days.At length a storm arose, and oneWas blighted, and cut down at noon.The other hath transplanted been,And flowers fair as herself hath borne;She too has felt the withering storm,Her strength's decayed, wasted her form.May he who hears the mourner's prayer,Renew her strength for years to come;Long may He our Lilly spare,Long...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise.adulthoodCarlee Wilsongone are the days where my ceilingtwinkled with plastic magicand the only house i worried about was barbie’s.it didn’t matter if ken came home or not,didn’t matter if stacie’s car had a flator if joe’s deployment was extended.boy, i’d kill for a mud pie right now,full of everything we’ve been taught to avoid,devoid of everything we’ve been taught matter...

A daily reading from One Poem Only—a quiet space for a single poem, read aloud.InedibleSeraI wish I could covermy body in spikes,become unappetizing,indigestible.I poke holes into my image,pour lighter fluid over it,flicking the flame onand burning awaythe outline you memorized,char the version of meyou still think of.I wish I could transform,shapeshiftinto something you hate.I chop my hair inuneven sections,cut lattice into my face,unravel the centre of myself.I bite my fingers raw,throw my body against co...

Wednesdays on One Poem Only are a double feature: one poem here on the podcast, and one more by the same poet shared on Instagram.borderlineLuna Fergusonborderlinebetween what may i ask?floating whilst the clock ticks bytears on the night of your lifepain in pleasurepleasure in paindoors closedthe slams still echo in your brainin-prisoned by your own namedust scatters over where you layan endless impossible escape you planned at 5imprints of those who held you tightjust to leave you in the nightskys are blue but your mind is greyit makes no sense...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now.The mind unmaskedAliyah MorayoMy mind carries centuries.The rust of chains sits where dreams should bloom.It remembers the songs my ancestors could not finish,the languages drowned beneath the ocean,The prayers that reached heaven but never came back whole.I carry the scent of burning villages,the hush of mothers hiding their children from soldiers,The taste of iron in blood is not yet dry.History is not behind me,it lives beneath my skin...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise. no place like homeAbhilasha Ghoshcoming back feels different—as if the walls have softenedwhile you were gone,as if the light has rehearsedthe exact way it will fall on your facewhen you step inside.you notice small things first:the old curtain breathing in the breeze,the smell of evening settling on the floor,the faint echo of who you used to bestill lingering in the cornerslike a loyal ghost.dist...

One Poem More gathers all of this week’s poems from One Poem Only—an unhurried chance to listen again, or catch what you missed.This week’s poemsPresence of Choice by Alecia LewisHarmony by Seán TateMemory weighs more than bone and Hash browns by Charlotte DawnTangerines and Alcoholism by Labanya DeyI Am Mother by Melissa NortonComrades by Ella Wheeler WilcoxPlus one new one to carry us into the week aheadBordersMaggie DeversOn the north side of the borderThe saguaro arms are droopingAnd the Oregon...

One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now.Comrades Ella Wheeler Wilcox I and my Soul are alone to-day, All in the shining weather; We were sick of the world, and put it away, So we could rejoice together. Our host, the Sun, in the blue, blue sky Is mixing a rare, sweet wine, In the burnished gold of this cup on high, For me, and this Soul of mine. We find it a safe and royal drink, And a cure for every pain; It helps...

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise.I Am Mother Melissa Norton I am Mother, stepping barefoot on the snake.Absorbing her power as her body wraps tight around my leg.I, with quick, sharp force sever the head full of venomAs my mother has done with the point of a shovelAs I have done with a horrified hatchetMy babies will fear no fangs.I am Mother. Protector. Warrior. Safe Haven.I am Mother. I know powerful, truest lo...