One Poem Only

TransmorphingÖzge Lena

This Poem was commended for Winged Muse Poetry Competition of Winged Moon Literary Magazine

After Harpy by Valerie Hammond
In seven nights she will burstinto nothing. Now all alone in a creamcoloured void, a woundlike creature, a word hunger like no other.Soon you will meet herin the neon gloaming, after the ruby acheof not writing for a long winter,frost flowers in your heart. Her low wingswill be closed, sharp clawspointing down and down, some frozensadness on her pale face.Sunset’s vermilion beams will bleedinto your lungs as you holdher by hair, unfurl the ribbon to tie itaround your neck, to see your freedomknotted in its silk, and breathelife into her mouth. You will watch herunfold her wings wide, talonswill scratch the soft air when she cloaksyou tight until you morph intoa harpy to write a septet poem in red ink.

More from Özge Lena ↓

1. @lenaozge on Instagram
2. You can find her on Substack @lenaozge where she presents her new approach to poetry, Catapoetry. It is a poetic framework about the interwoven and inseparable catastrophes of our age.
3. You can listen to me read luminous girl lullaby by Özge Lena on Instagram @rembrandts.cure

To Fall Is to BeginIrina Vérènei won’t be draggedpast the pearly gates—i’ll leave of my own volition.with these heavenly rulesstifling my breath,i must say,it seems a wise decision.
amidst the flamesand the curling smoke,i shall rise anew—after all,a fall from heaven,a descent to hell,is a baptism, too.

More from Irina Vérène ↓

1. @queen_of_gore on Instagram
2. They are featured in Haunted Words Press' anthology, Our Dearest Devotions, which contains their flash fiction piece about friendship, fae magic, and gender transition.

Mentioned in this episode:

One Poem Only submissions are open.

This round, I’m looking for poems about what remains. What stays with us after we experience change? What survives? What do we yearn to carry forward? Send me the poem you wrote and want the world to hear. Also, if you’d like to read your own poem on the podcast, you can. Submit a clear audio file recorded in a quiet space—no perfect studio recording required. And yes, your poem can have been previously published in a literary magazine, a book, or on social media. Submissions close Thursday, October 29. I’ll respond by Wednesday, November 11. Whether I read your poem or you read it yourself, I’d love to hear what you have to share.

One Poem Only Submissions Form

Becoming AgainReyaI didn’t rise like fire —I rose like forgiveness.Lost me once, still trying,sky’s the limit, I’m craving the climb.
Thoughts that once broke menow make me alive again.Words find me, like a heart reborn —one heartbreak broke a million dreams,but that heartbreak built me stronger —heartless enough to fight for them again.

More from Reya ↓

1. @moodmakerperson on Instagram
2. Her book, Teenage Tide, is available now.

Mentioned in this episode:

One Poem Only submissions are open.

This round, I’m looking for poems about what remains. What stays with us after we experience change? What survives? What do we yearn to carry forward? Send me the poem you wrote and want the world to hear. Also, if you’d like to read your own poem on the podcast, you can. Submit a clear audio file recorded in a quiet space—no perfect studio recording required. And yes, your poem can have been previously published in a literary magazine, a book, or on social media. Submissions close Thursday, October 29. I’ll respond by Wednesday, November 11. Whether I read your poem or you read it yourself, I’d love to hear what you have to share.

One Poem Only Submissions Form

Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.

Dec 29 - Eclipse of the Self by Ruvaani @ruvaani.unclaimed on Instagram. Her book, The Sunken Daffodil, is out now.

Dec 30 - Cold Plunging by Kristin Yates @beautefantasy on Instagram. You can find links to her published work on her Linktree.

Dec 31 - Of love and hell by Kajal @mermaidspen_ on Instagram and @mermaidspen on Substack.

Jan 1 - New Dawn by Benedicta Kyeremaa Addai @Kyere_mah on Instagram. She was published in the anthology, Ancestors, answer me, a compilation of shortlisted poems entered into the 2025 New Voices Poetry Contest Curated by Creative Project Ghana. The New Voices Contest was born from a desire to give poetic voices in Ghana a platform to celebrate the richness of Ghanaian expression, language and imagination. A copy of the anthology can be found at the website of New Voices Poetry Contest or Creative Ghana Project on Instagram.

Jan 2 - January Born by JC @theincidentalpoet on Instagram and Substack.

Jan 3 - "My heart is a museum of every person I've ever loved" by Megan Phillips @metaphor_megg on Instagram. Her book, Uncomfortably Present, is available now.

Jan 4Crawl SpaceMaggie DeversThis was the year of the snakeBut I didn’t realize it until the end
Now I feel free from my itchy skin Like emerging from the steam roomPores open, every ounce of old squoze out
The beginning of the year brought exit,Retreat from our burrow until the fire subsided
This summer we saw a rattle on the trailThey sun themselves right in the middle of the footpath Your vibrations alert them to exit before you see them Unless they’re feeling particularly drowsyAnd who hasn’t felt slow half napping in the midday light
We crashed out of fall and into winter with a joltIt was impossible to move until we found releaseIn slithering along the sand to the sea Where we could dig our toes inAnd recall our feet, polish them new with the grit
And mummer to our insides how glad we wereTo be cartwheeling as the sun set on the snake

More from Maggie Devers ↓

1. My debut poetry collection, For My Daughter, available as an audiobook.
2. Purchase a signed copy of For My Daughter or get one free by subscribing to the podcast: One Poem Only on Patreon
3. Follow me on Instagram for more poetry @rembrandts.cure

“My heart is a museum of every person I’ve ever loved” Megan Phillips My heart is a museum of every person I’ve ever lovedMy Dad’s birthday is national start over dayYesterday I told the ocean that I would let go of all the victim bullshitI would let the past me be in the rearviewI will be new after washing my feet in the sand
Venus, I said,I will have more funAnd loveAnd I won’t be bitter and sadAbout what I don’t have
I will appreciate being 34 and on vacation with my husband aloneI will appreciate the new pet sitter who I know will train my dog I will appreciate the rabbits I saw 3-4 times this weekI will appreciate the small crab on the beach who was walked on but god damn it, he lived
My heart is a museum of every person I’ve ever loved His Mom is Portmeirion plates and ‘Hey there Delilah” Because she thought it reminded her of usWhich made no damn sense but it’s her song now
My heart is a museum of every person I’ve ever lovedMy grandfather it’s coffee shops and poppiesMy grandmother it’s yellow daffodils cigarettes and knit sweatersMy mom is MAC Red lipstickMy Dad is tanned freckled skinMy husband is blue eyes and big hands

More from Megan Phillips ↓

• @metaphor_megg on Instagram
• Her book, Uncomfortably Present, is available now.

Mentioned in this episode:

One Poem Only submissions are open.

This round, I’m looking for poems about what remains. What stays with us when we experience change? What survives? What do we yearn to carry forward? Send me the poem you wrote and want the world to hear. Also, if you’d like to read your own poem on the podcast, you can. Submit a clear audio file recorded in a quiet space—no perfect studio recording required. And yes, your poem can have been previously published in a literary magazine, in print, or on social media. Submissions close Thursday, October 29. I’ll respond by Wednesday, November 11. Whether I read your poem or you read it yourself, I’d love to hear what you have to share.

One Poem Only Submissions Form

January Born JC I was winter’s child,wrapped in borrowed wool,breath small as frost on windowpanes.
The world outside was brittle then,trees bare-boned againsta sky that never learned warmth,roads lined with grit and quiet.
Inside, there was laughter,steam from mugs that foggedthe kitchen glass,a lullaby of radiators clankingas if they toowere proud to keep me alive.
January taught me patience—that buds sleep long before they bloom,that light returns in rationed teaspoons,that beginnings aren’t always bright,but they are strong.
And so when I look back,I see my first days threaded with cold,yet stitched with care,a child born not to fireworks,but to the hush of snow,the steady hands of a yearjust learning how to start again.

More from JC ↓

• @theincidentalpoet on Instagram and Substack

Mentioned in this episode:

One Poem Only submissions are open.

This round, I’m looking for poems about what remains. What stays with us after we experience change? What survives? What do we yearn to carry forward? Send me the poem you wrote and want the world to hear. Also, if you’d like to read your own poem on the podcast, you can. Submit a clear audio file recorded in a quiet space—no perfect studio recording required. And yes, your poem can have been previously published in a literary magazine, a book, or on social media. Submissions close Thursday, October 29. I’ll respond by Wednesday, November 11. Whether I read your poem or you read it yourself, I’d love to hear what you have to share.

One Poem Only Submissions Form

New DawnKyeremah ‎Smile on me,‎the Sun is awakening.‎Yesterday and today left no crumbs‎We begin from there.‎‎I won't tell you how to live ‎But be happy, ‎be happy ‎‎One step at a time ‎Love, eat and pray‎Give thanks and make merry.‎‎Today will be gone ‎So will you, someday ‎But what will matter‎Is that you lived well.‎‎So be happy,‎be happy.

More from Kyeremah ↓

• @Kyere_mah on Instagram
• She was published in the anthology, Ancestors, answer me, a compilation of shortlisted poems entered into the 2025 New Voices Poetry Contest Curated by Creative Project Ghana. The New Voices Contest was born from a desire to give poetic voices in Ghana a platform to celebrate the richness of Ghanaian expression, language and imagination. A copy of the anthology can be found at the website of New Voices Poetry Contest or Creative Ghana Project on Instagram.

Mentioned in this episode:

One Poem Only submissions are open.

This round, I’m looking for poems about what remains. What stays with us when we experience change? What survives? What do we yearn to carry forward? Send me the poem you wrote and want the world to hear. Also, if you’d like to read your own poem on the podcast, you can. Submit a clear audio file recorded in a quiet space—no perfect studio recording required. And yes, your poem can have been previously published in a literary magazine, in print, or on social media. Submissions close Thursday, October 29. I’ll respond by Wednesday, November 11. Whether I read your poem or you read it yourself, I’d love to hear what you have to share.

One Poem Only Submissions Form

Of Love and Hell Kajal Of how the hell fell in loveand went straight to heaven, I know the story of a dovewho used to weep for a raven.Nights when Earth criedfor tearing Sun and Moon apart,When horizons used to pain world,there was no war in the name of art.Take me back to the timewhen agony was not a trend, time of ancients,where lies beginnings end.

More from Kajal ↓

• @mermaidspen_ on Instagram
• @mermaidspen on Substack

Cold Plunging Kristin Yates Breath leaves my lipslike a bird, andI feel the cardinalsand the chickadeesand the coldin my handssing.I become the shiverof saying it:I love youenoughto let you live.

More from Kristin Yates ↓

• @beautefantasy on Instagram
• You can find links to her published work on her Linktree

Mentioned in this episode:

One Poem Only submissions are open.

This round, I’m looking for poems about what remains. What stays with us after we experience change? What survives? What do we yearn to carry forward? Send me the poem you wrote and want the world to hear. Also, if you’d like to read your own poem on the podcast, you can. Submit a clear audio file recorded in a quiet space—no perfect studio recording required. And yes, your poem can have been previously published in a literary magazine, a book, or on social media. Submissions close Thursday, October 29. I’ll respond by Wednesday, November 11. Whether I read your poem or you read it yourself, I’d love to hear what you have to share.

One Poem Only Submissions Form

Eclipse of the Self Ruvaani I dissolved in the shadow of my own becoming,where every heartbeat was an echo of absence,and every breath a question unspoken.
The world pressed against my ribs,but in the hollow between despair and forgetting,a seed trembled—ancient, patient, luminous.
From it rose fire unbidden,not to burn what remained,but to weave the fragments of meinto a new geometry of being.
I walked through the ruins of yesterday,not seeking light, but becoming it,each step an unmaking and a return,each scar a hymn,each tear a river that bore me home.
And when dawn finally leaned into my chest,I did not rise as I was—I rose as I had always been:a soul forged in shadow,tempered in loss,and rebornin the quiet, unrelenting brilliance of myself.

More from Ruvaani ↓

• @ruvaani.unclaimed on Instagram
• Her book, The Sunken Daffodil, is out now

Mentioned in this episode:

One Poem Only submissions are open.

This round, I’m looking for poems about what remains. What stays with us after we experience change? What survives? What do we yearn to carry forward? Send me the poem you wrote and want the world to hear. Also, if you’d like to read your own poem on the podcast, you can. Submit a clear audio file recorded in a quiet space—no perfect studio recording required. And yes, your poem can have been previously published in a literary magazine, a book, or on social media. Submissions close Thursday, October 29. I’ll respond by Wednesday, November 11. Whether I read your poem or you read it yourself, I’d love to hear what you have to share.

One Poem Only Submissions Form