One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now.

Epitaph On A TyrantW. H. AudenPerfection, of a kind, was what he was after,And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;He knew human folly like the back of his hand,And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Poetry shows us what we need. Thank you for being part of the experience.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise.

ReducedRosalind DaviesEasy winter option, ideal for layering over your favourite outfits,regular fit, timeless crew neckline.
The glory of a full-price itemChosen in the hot bloom of the seasonMy size, my length.I take time to choose, plan ahead, create,Build a look, an image, or someone else’s,The one I want to lay on me,The one that speaks loud what I want it to say.A gift card redeems me and I walk, like a cat, away.
Long sleeves feature subtle fluting at the cuffs for a stylish finish,a staple for your occasion wardrobe.
Not every occasion has a desirable, describable outfit.
January watches and waits to launch and throwIts missile attacks on a cratered high streetAnd I remember the decorum of the time before.
Arms reach and grab.
The crunch of hangers underfoot.
A cruel mixture of trousers and skirts, fighting colours, jumble sale,Disordered sizes, lying labels, sale stickers skewering helpless synthetics.
I feel the loss.Rubbing between finger and thumb the fading image of careless success,I mourn the season of choice and purchase, the easy accumulation,the beautiful utility of seamless day-to-night.Boutique has become bric-a-brac.I battle, eyes sharp for rivals, at the end of line.
Cropped length with belt to cinch you insharp, refined silhouette, a contemporary tailored cut.

More from Rosalind Davies ↓

1. @rosssie.d on Instagram

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Poetry sustains. Thank you for supporting the podcast.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO

A daily reading from One Poem Only—a quiet space for a single poem, read aloud.

intuitionrismPattern recognition is acognitive discipline —congenitally decided for most,congested with emotion.Not to boast, butI’m a fucking psychicfunctioning on fumes and faint tracesof a beautywho previously inhabitedthis body, this brain.I mainline cues.It’s smooth, yet dangerous —an almost cancerous paranoia.Sometimes wildly,the past is a tool used primally;utilize your history.Intuition powerfully promotes fruitionpassionately if tempted.Trust in the process promptedby your progress.

More from rism ↓

1. @bugshearyou on Instagram

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Poetry reminds us what matters. Thank you for listening.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO

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 world is harsh,rebuilding your shell with self-made gold,
In your spiral shellyou hold the answer –I too can change.
My soft body thriving in gentlenessKintsugi shell gleamingin the light of springas I carve mycurling
silver
life trail
slowly
steadily
softly
at my own
snail’s
pace.

More from Lizzie Elliot-Klein ↓

1. @ofbrackenandbrine on Instagram

Watch the Second Poem

You can watch and listen to Belly. by Lizzie Elliot-Klein as part of our Wednesday double feature on Instagram at @rembrandts.cure.

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Two poems. One poet. Let the words keep moving.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO

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 makes me feel small.But look at the "e"s: how they mirror, how they gleamA twin of silver, the space in between.Tonee is a lift, a soft-rising key,The "ee" is the breath of the person.It isn’t a label, it isn’t a chore,It’s the clicking of locks and the opening door.How do I tell them the "y" is a ghost?A version of me that I’ve long demoted.How do I tell them the "e" is the spark,The fun and the fire who glow in the dark?It’s not just a spelling, a quirk, or a claim,It’s the pulse in my throat.It’s my name.It’s my name.

More from Nguyen Minh Tri ↓

1. @tonywith2e on Instagram
2. @tonywith2e on Substack

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Feed yourself poetry every day.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO

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 just like a bomb,one year from now the hospital will close,he’ll find a plot to rest beside his mom,if only congress told him how it goes. Though women’s bodies know not rights of men, thank God the rich can clutch their wealth again.

More from Alicia Swain ↓

1. @aliciamswain on Instagram
2. @aliciamswain on Substack
3. Her book, Steel Slides and Yellow Walls, is available now

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Poetry slows us down. Thank you for listening.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO

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 poems

1. Operating Instructions for the Day After Your Best Friend Tells You He Supports Genocide by Jané Dowd
2. Swan Dive by Maia von Maltzahn
3. Cycles by S. Salazar
4. An Emblem of Wounds by Henry Opeyemi
5. mortal perch by Amanda Thuy
6. A Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Plus one new one to carry us into the week ahead

Cling to MeMaggie DeversI lay on the California coastListening to the wavesLooking out to the Santa Monica mountainsAnd nestle into the earth like a loverhunting out the soft spot near your collar boneOr a toddler, shyly hiding behind your knee,peering out only to retreat into the smooth safety of a jointThe parts where we come together are the most tenderI realize as I drag my fingers through the damp sand, bits of ocean foam clinging to its surface
Life unfolds in the crevicesAt first we grow curled up and long for the pressure of the womb once we are bornThen we learn to grow by stretchingTo unfurl our limbsSo when we find ourselves in a tight spot we burrow deeper to feel safeWe grow roots that entwine with the roots of those we loveWe learn to trust the tender parts as we come together

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

More from this week’s poets

Find links to each poet’s work, books, and social accounts in the show notes for the individual episodes.

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Poetry is better when it’s lived with. Thank you for listening.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO

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' storm and night,So trembled from afarWhat could there be more purely brightIn Truth's day star?

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Poetry shows us what we need. Thank you for being part of the experience.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO

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 into light through hope-filled ink,seeking redemption while still consuming tear-stained drink.
loneliness of my despair shall now upon all befall,mystic and cryptic script that quietly fades into ears of all.one bit of comfort as wounds float upon flutter of winds,unburdening some grief-laden poundage long kept within.

More from Amanda Thuy ↓

1. @mezzo.strada on Instagram
2. Her book, Between Love and Grief: Pet Loss and Healing through Poetry, is available now

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Poetry sustains. Thank you for supporting the podcast.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO

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 stillness that was once a scream.My world is an open wound— a phoenix burning into an undying whistle of the wind. we’re betwixt awaging war, an emblem of songs profused into the flowering of roseash, aren’t we all a singing orchestrain heaven?& we won’t stop singing until the world ends in a poem, until immortality is an endless loop ofremembrance. We stood beside the black river, washing down black memories, memorizing the eulogy ofbrown gods, a drowning nestling through the theory of names. I looked into the memory, marinated forthe ashes that were burnt to be seen, nebulous as the clouds. syntax of broken bodies wrestling forwholeness,the world won’t end without us first knowing, and the wound won’t heal without the opening ofanother body.

More from Henry Opeyemi ↓

1. @henryopeyemi_ on Instagram

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Poetry reminds us what matters. Thank you for listening.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice.

We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO