One Poem Only
By: Maggie Devers
Language: en
Categories: Arts, Books, Education, Self Improvement, Performing
A daily reading. A quiet moment. One poem, center stage: just for now, just for you. A one-night-only show, in verse. I'm Maggie Devers, and each day I'll read you one poem—nothing more, nothing less. No analysis, no noise—just a little space to listen. Come back tomorrow. The curtain rises again.
Episodes
The Keeper’s Dream by Kiki Johnson
Dec 15, 2025The Keeper’s Dream
Kiki Johnson
The ice angel said, “I know you dreamof snowfields with lost fawns & tall pines”There are those of us who look to the callof snow’s powder to warm our souls.The blanket of death to keep us moving.To the call of herding spotted fawns backtoward clearing in deep woodland, wheremajestic papa waits. We are the keepersof the deep-down buried things.
We understand beauty’s need to wait inhush & hollow. To wait under fallow groundin the silence of stasis. The first thrustof the plow’s blade can be so horror... Duration: 00:01:56
Sunday Recap & Good Things by Maggie Devers
Dec 14, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Dec 8 - Momma Said Be Nice by Chris Kads @chris_kads on Instagram. Chris runs Gut Punch Prompts, a twice monthly poetry challenge on Instagram looking for poems that contain visceral language, raw emotion, and/or thought-provoking political and social commentary. In other words, poems that pack a punch!
Dec 9 - when we fall by Paper Trail Poetry @papertrailpoetry on Instagram.
Dec 10 - The Graduate by Caitríona Walsh @tone.down.the.blonde on In...
Duration: 00:05:55Winter Marmalade by Matthew D Albertson
Dec 13, 2025Winter Marmalade
Matthew D Albertson
When the days of midnight sunAre past, a gnawing grows within—A pit of need. Not for want of foodOr drink. No, it is the dark itself I yearnTo eat, grown in gloaming hours—That of thy heart. Whene'er thy sorrowsFruit like sour, violet crabapples, ILust to pluck them all from limb andGround. Those succulent woes, thyNighttime dread, to me is mostPreservative—
A nourishing, filling, decadent jam.Oh, let me in thy late autumnal orchard,Ripe with crop and tang and rot;Let me gorge upon thy noxious cropOf... Duration: 00:01:44
Good Things by Maggie Devers
Dec 12, 2025Good Things
She remembers that you get to pick where you want to sit at IHOPAnd she knows exactly where she wants to sit.She notices we are wearing the same outfit Bike shorts and shirts with sleeves that are too big.Two women pick their favorite booth.She clocks their enthusiasm Content to share the experience Knowing the good things in lifeCome easy.
More from Maggie Devers ↓
For My Daughter audiobook out soon.Read my debut poetry book, For My DaughterFollow me on Instagram for more poetry @rembrandts.cureMentioned in this ep...
Duration: 00:01:32The Forest by Maria Beben
Dec 11, 2025The Forest
Maria Beben
We tasted the achelike a familiar cocktail,one we hopedto never drink again.We took a branchthat posed a dangerand added more kindling,looking around for anything that would burn.We gathered and addeduntil the branch became a forestand we couldn’t see throughto the other side.We felt betrayedand confusedand didn’t understand how we got there.We stood on opposite ends of this forestand felt the weightof a growing terror.But at the exact momentwhen we reached for a box of matchesto burn it all down,we remembered that tree... Duration: 00:02:04
The Graduate by Caitríona Walsh
Dec 10, 2025The Graduate
Caitríona Walsh
On the vesper of March I pulsed through the desert, Ever the vagary Clot of the bloodline.Koutoubia's minaret Catnapped before me, Steepled in sandstone–A moonshot missile
Lullabied by ouds And kittens' Bare-bellied Midnight mewls.
Medina mazes Assuaged by Cloud-confetti Orange blossoms–
Palls of scent spun In arabesque spells Through souks Keyhole arches.
I woke with Muezzin's Call to prayer, Parched, perplexed By Agafay air–
Caught in my glottis As cockcrow came–Florid gown gone, No call to cross campus
With tasselled cap Like a go... Duration: 00:02:20
when we fall by Paper Trail Poetry
Dec 09, 2025when we fall
Paper Trail Poetry
when we fallwe give back to the soilthat nurtured us.seasonally, we are compost, yes,but life-giving nonetheless.when we fallour roots are ruptured;we are bare.decay tightensits cold, rotten grasp,but hope shall not be choked out.
when we fallthe way forward is pavedwith opportunityso make room for graceto replant you come springwhere you’ll stretch in sunlight again.
More from Paper Trail Poetry ↓
@papertrailpoetry on InstagramMentioned in this episode:
Join the mailing list to be the first to know...
Duration: 00:01:25Swim Shorts
Dec 08, 2025Swim Shorts
Maggie Devers
She’s wearing swim shorts That don’t fit her And never willBecause her buns are too smallShe calls it her booty And shakes it Which is hilariousBecause she’s fiveBut what can you expectGrowing up in WeHo.Will she be the first to feel true liberation?
I have felt bits of it, through herBecause it’s easy not to give a damnWhen you’re a mom.You have to choose,But once you doIt takes work for them to hurt youBecause it’s endlessly easy to protect herAt all costs.
No... Duration: 00:01:05
Momma Said Be Nice by Chris Kads
Dec 08, 2025Momma Said Be Nice
Chris Kads
This poem was originally published in Blood+Honey Lit mag and is being republished with SHINE International Poetry Series.
You don’t expect to serve mashed potatoes and steak for breakfast. Don’t expect to find urine in a tub or to have sympathy for the assaulter who pissed in it.I’ve learned to let expectations fly like ashes.
When the men retire so do the rules instilled by their mothers. They’ll swim in the deep end of the pool, tiptoe into the kitchen, sneak a... Duration: 00:02:28
Four
Dec 07, 2025Four
Maggie Devers
A sure, young voice speaks clearlyFull of instructionCertain and groundedKnowing what she wants and the path to itIf this is my legacy,I am content. Duration: 00:00:18Sunday Recap & When the Hum Rises by Maggie Devers
Dec 07, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Dec 1 - Timeline by Quinn Holm @quinnholm.muse and @gratusgarden on Instagram. Quinn Holm on Substack.
Dec 2 - my throat makes by atm.itm @atm.itm on Instagram. @atmitm on Substack. They are co-founder of studio somnus: a creative project agency.
Dec 3 - “as the ground begins to frost” by esso @esso_overflow on Instagram. @essooverflow on Substack. Her book, when the moon calls, is out now. It features poetry she wrote during the new...
Duration: 00:07:55Morning Magic by Maggie Devers - For My Daughter
Dec 06, 2025Morning Magic
Maggie Devers
A princess sits at the edge of my bedTelling fantastical stories,My sleepy head tripping over the details But in line with the nuance.She prattles like a caffeinated sage,Wisdom seeping out of jumbled phrases,Bits of stories, weaving togetherHer dreams, desires, realities.It’s all the same,She speaks her life. Duration: 00:00:28Hearthside by Dorothy Parker
Dec 06, 2025Hearthside
Dorothy Parker
Half across the world from me Lie the lands I'll never see- I, whose longing lives and dies Where a ship has sailed away; I, that never close my eyes But to look upon Cathay.Things I may not know nor tell Wait, where older waters swell; Ways that flowered at Sappho's tread, Winds that sighed in Homer's strings, Vibrant with the singing dead, Golden with the dust of wings.
Under deeper skies than mine, Quiet valleys dip and shine. Where their tender grasses heal Ancient scars of trench and tombI... Duration: 00:01:47
Baby Book by Maggie Devers - For My Daughter
Dec 05, 2025Baby Book
Maggie Devers
I didn’t make my daughter a baby book,I wrote her weird poems instead.I can hear her explaining this to her friends,“There’s no scrapbook full of memoriesBut there is a special poem about me being Athena, and one about my birth, and when I was conceived.My parents named me after a fancy hotel.”Dear God, what have I done?I’m that mom,The unhinged mom that really should know better.
We don’t have annual professional photos in matching outfits,Just the ones we take, that s... Duration: 00:01:10
“I dreamt I was in Paris” by Jen Booton
Dec 05, 2025“I dreamt I was in Paris”
Jen Booton
I dreamt I was in Paris scents of coffee and absinthe wafting as olfactory wind chimes typewriters snug on Boulevard Montparnasse tables peppered with burgeoning authors lost among their own generation but destined to be famous for centuries.Drunk on wine, cigarettes and delusion sturdy as centenarian tree roots that their precious moment in time, after war, was all that mattered, which of course they were right a ripple in the energetic tapestry of life connecting them with me here, 100 years
Later on a wooden table snug... Duration: 00:02:15
Of Course by Maggie Devers - For My Daughter
Dec 04, 2025Of Course
Maggie Devers
Her feet were purple when she was born,The cord pinned between her shoulder and me.Half a dozen extra doctors and nurses had converged in the room moments before,All of me open to all of themAs my doctor, the one I started with so many weeks ago,Back when she told me they don’t use the tongs anymore,Suction cupped her tiny head and yanked,I breathed,And the baby entered this world with a mighty howl.In seconds all the contingency actors vanished.
The center of th... Duration: 00:00:52
“My poetry has big bones” by Bex
Dec 04, 2025“My poetry has big bones”
Bex
My poetry has big bones And big ideas tooShe wears vintage lace And she remembers every time she was slipped on... Poetry smokes green in the grass with her lover and dissects the sun for she remembers its inception.Poetry says -"I’m with you in this life and the next, I will eat every piece of you whole, wiping up what's left and wringing the cloth out in my mouth, because my survival depends on your every drop" Poetry is the story that lives in the wooden box on the... Duration: 00:01:54First Blood by Maggie Devers - For My Daughter
Dec 03, 2025First Blood
Maggie Devers
I remember the first blood of her,The implant blood they call it.It was possible I was pregnant,We had laughed about it in Malta a few days and half a world away ago,Sitting on our private balcony in a walled city,Drinking a bottle of wine as a cart pulled by a horse strolled by.We’ll call her Xara, we said, for the hotel built into the battlements where she was conceived.The strength of old stone and softness of embossed butter at breakfast were a foretellingOf th... Duration: 00:00:44
“as the ground begins to frost” by esso
Dec 03, 2025“as the ground begins to frost”
esso
as the ground begins to frost we snuggle in heavier cloth to live out shortbread days laden in chocolate, lavender & cedar-smoke hugging hooded hours to soothe broken & healing layerswarm our hands by the fire —holding safe—
as a crackling back-up singerburgeons creases intersecting steely gaze & the blue-flame of fiery humor belting the lead
cackles fill—growing darkness heating our toes from the inside
& we'll tear-openmidnight's invitationto keep splitting peas & hairs over who gets the last piece of chocolate & the next kiss
More from esso ↓
@esso_overflow on In... Duration: 00:02:03For My Daughter - Title Poem
Dec 02, 2025For My Daughter
Maggie Devers
Chop off my head and put it on your shield.I will protect you until the day I dieAnd all the days after that.You think I would let anything harm the perfection that sprang from my body?That force that is me and infinitely you at the same time?There is nothing in the world that could destroy us,Not when a mere glance can turn men to stone. Duration: 00:00:30my throat makes by atm.itm
Dec 02, 2025my throat makes
atm.itm
corridors into cloth carries shimmering light i have forgotten how fabric can be light as light stitches from hands i have not met rest lightly on my shoulderit is the words hard to say that stick to my mind it is your words that do not know how to die make me sing out wretched and loud
i strain them against the current currently shaking into sea salty and rocky my throat feels the bulge of the apple cork stuck inside
i hope you’ll still hear me... Duration: 00:02:00
For My Daughter Audiobook Intro
Dec 01, 2025The audiobook of For My Daughter releases 12-12. Listen to a poem a day from the book by subscribing to One Poem Only.
Duration: 00:00:42Timeline by Quinn Holm
Dec 01, 2025Timeline
Quinn Holm
I wrote Spring in WinterI wrote Winter in Summerand Fall somewhere in betweenthe changing weatherThe nature in me has its own seasonsI’m not afraid of being forgottenfor my being needs no outside opinionsThings used-to-be and mistakenno longer have a place in my present Long gone was their influence on my emotions I’m now loved and nurtured, every moment
The universe in me creates its own timelineThe inner reservoir in this child’s eyesmasters the healing and grows with pride as my inner light shines through the nightthings soon-to-be have n... Duration: 00:01:55
Sunday Recap & Drink It In by Maggie Devers
Nov 30, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Nov 24 - Moonborn by Aura Guerra-Artola @g.a.aura on Instagram. Her book, How to Live with a Cat on Your Chest and a Whale in Your Heart, is out now.
Nov 25 - Winter nights, burning cinder. by Sierra sylvie @the_fire_ave on Instagram.
Nov 26 - My Son in the Sea by Lisa Zerkle @hag_lore on Instagram. Listen to Lisa on Painted Bride Quarterly's Slush Pile podcast, where the editorial team disc...
Duration: 00:08:55How Clear She Shines by Emily Brontë
Nov 29, 2025How Clear She Shines
Emily Brontë
How clear she shines! How quietlyI lie beneath her guardian light;While heaven and earth are whispering me,"To morrow, wake, but dream to-night."Yes, Fancy, come, my Fairy love!These throbbing temples softly kiss;And bend my lonely couch above,And bring me rest, and bring me bliss.The world is going; dark world, adieu!Grim world, conceal thee till the day;The heart thou canst not all subdueMust still resist, if thou delay!
Thy love I will not, will not share;Thy hatred only wakes a s... Duration: 00:02:36
Stuck in the Blue by Tushil Jariwala
Nov 28, 2025Stuck in the Blue
Tushil Jariwala
i remember that weekend — the lilac sky,how i smiled at the stars while learning goodbye.i gave you my laughter, my voice, my youth,and you gave me silence, disguised as truth.i thought we were different — the kind that last,but some fairytales burn out too fast.you called it timing, i called it fate,you called me lovely — and walked away late.
i’m stuck in the blue, where the quiet won't break,where your name is a whisper the moonlight still makes.i painted you gold... Duration: 00:02:49
Canvas of Uncertainty by Asiyah Yusuf
Nov 27, 2025Canvas of Uncertainty
Asiyah Yusuf
We all wonder what the future holdsA blank canvas waiting, like an unwritten scroll.Brushstrokes of imagination begin to unfold,As hearts find solace in stories yet untold.In the darkness of uncertainty, a light flickers bright,Guiding us gently, where shadows take flight.With each step we take, the canvas starts to fill—With every stroke, our story unfolds.
A masterpiece of hope, where love and dreams entwine,A tapestry of moments, timeless and divine.In this work of art, our hopes come alivePassion ignites, dreams soar, and he... Duration: 00:01:39
My Son in the Sea by Lisa Zerkle
Nov 26, 2025My Son in the Sea
Lisa Zerkle
Somehow he knows he can breathe in both water and air. See how he grows piscine, dull on land, iridescent in the deep.Delicate flesh of my blood and my bone. How many bodies can this world hold?Men want to examine where exactly skin meets scale. You can’t have it both ways, choose: man or fish? Not a man, say the men. Don’t listen to them, sing the sirens, preening their feathers (being as they are part woman, part bird). What will the fish say?Neptune, I’m countin... Duration: 00:02:06Winter nights, burning cinder. by Sierra sylvie
Nov 25, 2025Winter nights, burning cinder.
Sierra sylvie
As I lie here with eyes that , Glint while the cinder burns each memory softly. As I lie here with those eyes that , Soar across every memory longing to be embraced.As I lie here with a body , Longing to be worshippedAs I lie here with the body ,Of rusted skin from the torrent of tears .
As I lie here with a soul , Suffering from the resentment of an eclipse As I lie here with a soul , striving to cherish the thistle garden of heart.
As I li... Duration: 00:01:36
Moonborn by Aura Guerra-Artola
Nov 24, 2025Moonborn
Aura Guerra-Artola
I am the Moon’s daughter. Forever shifting roomswithin the skin I call home.My light has crossed the tides, so have my shadows.I leave pieces— memory like bark, fallen between full and hollow.
I lay in the hands of the earthwhat in mine has completedits cycle—in case she willsthat it might bloom anewfor someone else.
More from Aura Guerra-Artola ↓
@g.a.aura on InstagramHer book, How to Live with a Cat on Your Chest and a Whale in Your Heart, is out nowMentioned in this...
Duration: 00:01:29Sunday Recap & Something Nice for Myself by Maggie Devers
Nov 23, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Nov 17 - The Anatomy of a Queer Body by Gokul Prabhu @iamameme_gp on Instagram and @gokulprabhu1 on Substack.
Nov 18 - Raindrops by Kunjal Saraswat @_heart_cuddles_ on Instagram.
Nov 19 - A Boy Moose Ate My Tulips by Erynne DeVore @poemsprayersandswears on Instagram. She has two poetry books, Discovering Divinity: Poems, Prayers and Swears, and The Labyrinth of Heartbreak: A collection of poetry for the lovers and the heartbroken. You can listen to me re...
Duration: 00:17:00Fernando by Keana Aguila Labra
Nov 22, 2025Fernando
Keana Aguila Labra
2011. Fernando was where we danced with our heels above the sand. A sixteen hour flight with jet lag as we licked the 6am sun. This is where it rises. Where he rises. Six hours before the mysterious Fernando. An hour acquainted with Fernando. Your chin raised, proudly. I did not understand it then, nor did I care. There was only us and our hands and this big house. Buko juice and lechon and mouths only in jovial activity. I married my toes into this land of his and smiled directly at this... Duration: 00:03:40Ode to the Familiar Strangers by Yara Tawk
Nov 21, 2025Ode to the Familiar Strangers
Yara Tawk
Like a wave crashing down on shore to then melt back into the ocean, I wonder if I too must break to recollect myself in my mother's embrace.Do droplets of rain miss being a wave?Will I ever miss being her child?Where does an unstoppable river go once every ocean has run dry?And what of the lake with no mother to run to, what of the waterfall with no arms to fall back into?Can they call the ocean anything but a stranger?Their beginning perhaps... Duration: 00:02:05Loneliness is a strange dopamine by Dipanwita Dey
Nov 20, 2025Loneliness is a strange dopamine
Dipanwita Dey
Loneliness is a strange dopamine.Slowly, steadily, it consumes existence.Under its spell, it traps, strangulates,murders, and extinguishes.The desperate try to defeat it,unleashing the invisible chainaround the collarbones.Feels like a gravitational force,pushing into the darkness of the unseen.
Solitude devours the ultimateversion of yourself—the despondency of never being discovered,never being heard,never feeling the warmth of a beloved's touch—evaporates into the captivation.
Loneliness is a strange dopaminethat gradually erases felicity.You let it consume, let it burn.The desp... Duration: 00:02:28
A Boy Moose Ate My Tulips by Erynne DeVore
Nov 19, 2025A Boy Moose Ate My Tulips
Erynne DeVore
i discovered marbles and obsidian buried in my garden next to the worms after a moose ate my tulips“of course it was a boy moose,” someone joked with mei tried not to wake my daughters scaring him away they woke anyways irony is never lost on poetsmy daughtershave ears and eyes and hearts of their ownthey would’ve seen the evidence in the morning
those tulips were a gift from Mother Earth meant for my pleasure, the flowers that came to me in a dream after... Duration: 00:03:31
Raindrops by Kunjal Saraswat
Nov 18, 2025Raindrops
Kunjal Saraswat
Raindrops shine under warm lights.I notice it for the first timeAs I sit here—Two hours deepInto this nightWith the rain.Well, not just the rain.It brings its companions:Thunder,Lightning,Showers,And storms.
Tonight, it’s a stormy rain.The wind is wild,And the glass of my balcony shuttersShudders under its weight.
I sip my coffeeAnd keep penning my poetry—This one is about sorrow,About giving up,About the reality of life:Death.
Behind me, the music swells.The rain’s pattering grows louder,And the... Duration: 00:03:39
The Anatomy of a Queer Body by Gokul Prabhu
Nov 17, 2025The Anatomy of a Queer Body
Gokul Prabhu
This poem first appeared In Plainspeak.
Please tread gently. This poem has potentially disturbing content.
I see death, perched at my window.Sometimes, they even sit on the edge of the bed.Death is my friend now!I am often tempted to draw them into a kiss.They no longer hold a scythe,and are no longer dressed in a cape.They dress like my ex: shabby t-shirt, greying jeans, and sneakers,or whatever those shoes are called in their world.We have a... Duration: 00:04:37Sunday Recap & Episode 200!
Nov 16, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Nov 10 - Signs by Defne Kartal @defnewrites on Instagram
Nov 11 - Sometimes I feel like writing by Junaid Ali Akbar @the.misfitpoet on Instagram.
Nov 12 - "this is not a poem (exactly)" by Tess Ezzy. @themoodyproject_ on Instagram. Poetess Press on Substack. You can listen to me read Cross Roads by Tess @rembrandts.cure on Instagram.
Nov 13 - In Another Lifetime by Edyth Grace @edyth_grace17 on Instagram.
Nov 14 - Th...
Duration: 00:09:50"A lousy sunday afternoon when The world had gone" by Aliya Narghese
Nov 15, 2025"A lousy sunday afternoon when"
Aliya Narghese
A lousy sunday afternoon whenThe world had gone, for a momentary slumber Her world fell forever quiet beneath the burning timberAn unwelcome call, a cacophony of cries Looks of pity, soulless sympathyLife that was laid gently into her hands Now a burden far heavy to carry
They called her brave, called her strong But she knew they were wrong Met with an incident so vivid Her mind always so livid
She was only a child, Left to pick up the shattered pieces To mend a... Duration: 00:01:54
The Altar I Didn’t Know I was Building by Elle Zaspel
Nov 14, 2025The Altar I Didn’t Know I was Building
Elle Zaspel
There’s a small bowl on the bookshelf,not meant for anything in particular.But in it: a cicada shell, a rock from a Hamptons beach,a blurry photo propped up beside them.Things I kept without knowing why.Things I wasn’t ready to throw away.Cicadas remind me of him—loud among friends, a little bit silly,as if joy itself made them tremble.They seem forgetful,unsure of when to rise from the earth,but their confusion is only appearance.They know exa... Duration: 00:02:53
In Another Lifetime by Edyth Grace
Nov 13, 2025In Another Lifetime
Edyth Grace
To an old friend, wherever you are.......In another lifetime,Where the skies are plastered With soft pinks and bluesand golden huesAnd the grass, softer than your skin I once caressed.
In another lifetime,where the air hums the lyricsof the song, we would've rememberedAnd your fingers would've fit minelike the stars aligningin some perfect, forgotten sky.
In another lifetime,the clocks would slow their hands,giving us endless moments—no rush, no regret,just the gentle unfoldingof a story written in your eyes.
In another lifetime,we... Duration: 00:01:56
"this is not a poem (exactly)" by Tess Ezzy
Nov 12, 2025"this is not a poem (exactly)"
Tess Ezzy
this is not a poem (exactly)but a leaf-fall of words unclaimed—(dear dirt) how softly youlistenand when wind folds the gumtrees intoparentheses (yes)what survives isbreath—
a syntax of birds unsinging •
meanwhile:Calla walks thru rain’s lowercaseand writes a cloud into her pocket(a sentence of dew)
Orion maps stars in the dark of the page,his footnotes wet with ash •
don’t say hope,say rootdon’t say beauty,say scar
climate speaks in fracture—in murmur,in shiver,in wait • <... Duration: 00:01:44
Sometimes I feel like writing by Junaid Ali Akbar
Nov 11, 2025Sometimes I feel like writing
Junaid Ali Akbar
Sometimes I feel like writing...Writing words that could shake the earth, But how foolish of me to think, That ink could stop the bloodshed.Sometimes I feel like writing...When I see the corpses of children, Hanging from the rubble, Their bodies too small for the weight of this world, Crushed by the sins of those who never knew their names.
Sometimes I feel like writing...When I see fathers cradling their babies' bodies, Their hands trembling as they carry the weight of loss, Bombs... Duration: 00:02:25
Signs by Defne Kartal
Nov 10, 2025Signs
Defne Kartal
I don’t believe in signs but I doI beg for them daily, and when they arrive -A postcard, a dog, a friend, a group of musicians, a Canadian -i don’t do what I think they’re telling me towhat are signs for?I don’t believe and I don’t know, I don’t know, so I don’t believeInstead, I conjure up an image of youWalking away through the crowd,I follow youEyes closed in my bedI hold youI look in people’s windows, says the poetI always, always, always doLion-faced tru... Duration: 00:02:19Sunday Recap & The prompt was to write by Maggie Devers
Nov 09, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Nov 3 - Naked by Danielle Martin @cosquelle.mind on Instagram. DanielleM on Facebook. Her book, Kissing Shadows: Caribbean Love Poems, is out now.
Nov 4 - Poetry Reading by Maggie Devers
Nov 5 - Her Absence by Katrina Kaye @poetkatrinakaye on Instagram. You can read more of her poetry on her website poetkatrinakaye.com. You can see me read Her Absence @rembrandts.cure on Instagram.
Nov 6 - you wrote anyway by Abhilasha Ghosh @abhil...
Duration: 00:10:53"Dear death" by Alexis M Levine
Nov 08, 2025A poem inspired by Emily Dickinson
Dear death How can I stay when you, more than life, make me feel seen?
They call you cruel, but I have seen the gentleness in your cruelty— the mercy in your ending, the way you unburden bones and hush the screaming thoughts no one else could hear. What if the ones who scream are not cruel, but trying to anchor me to a world they still believe can bloom?
And I— have I given everything a chance? Or have I fallen so in love with the idea of not hurting that...
Nightmares are dreams too by Dimple Dinesh Lokhande
Nov 07, 2025Nightmares are dreams too
Dimple Dinesh Lokhande
In the midnight sky, as breeze passes by, In our sleep, we tend to fly, To a place where dreams seem to lie.Dreams whisper on clouds in silver light, We see in shining armor a knight, Who wields his sword and provides justice to what's right.
Dreams are a picture of the future, some blurred, some clear, Where hearts feel safe and fears disappear.
But deep beneath those dreamy skies, Lies a darker place where nightmares reside. They steal your breath, haunt your soul, A... Duration: 00:02:09
you wrote anyway by Abhilasha Ghosh
Nov 06, 2025you wrote anyway
Abhilasha Ghosh
july 25th, 2025you were told writing was a man’s terrain— ink too heavy, thought too sharp for your soft hands. so you wrote anyway.
you became george eliot when mary ann wouldn’t be taken seriously. they admired your mind but never called it yours.
you were the brontë sisters, signing as currer, ellis, and acton bell— three pens dipped in restraint, writing women with thunder in their hearts.
you were ismat chughtai, on trial for obscenity because you dared to speak of women as if we had bo... Duration: 00:04:43
Her Absence by Katrina Kaye
Nov 05, 2025Her Absence
Katrina Kaye
I do not regret the days I spent loving you in her absence.I do not regret your tempered touches as you searched for her skin under my scales or the way your eyes reflected her sharp chin and freckled chest when they fell on my frame.
I do not regret the fleeting space we created, morning gestures in the folds of sheet and flesh. Tending your wounds with tongue and time.
You found solace with your elbows on my table, your dirty feet in my bed, but she... Duration: 00:02:08
Poetry Reading by Maggie Devers + An Exciting Announcement
Nov 04, 2025Poetry Reading
Maggie Devers
After Chelsie DianeThis is a rememberingWhen we come togetherAnd read our truth.We have been doing this forever.
They have tried to stop us—Burnt us alive, tied rocks to our ankles and threw us in the river, locked us in cages.So many cages.
But we didn't stop.We can never stop,We are right where we are.
The audiobook of my debut poetry book, For My Daughter, will be released 11/11.
In the tradition of a poem a day, starting 11/5, I will be offering a...
Duration: 00:01:57Poetry Reading by Maggie Devers & An Exciting Announcement
Nov 04, 2025Poetry Reading
Maggie Devers
After Chelsie DianeThis is a rememberingWhen we come togetherAnd read our truth.We have been doing this forever.
They have tried to stop us—Burnt us alive, tied rocks to our ankles and threw us in the river, locked us in cages.So many cages.
But we didn't stop.We can never stop,We are right where we are.
The audiobook of my debut poetry book, For My Daughter, will be released 12/12.
In the tradition of a poem a day, starting 11/5, I will be offering a...
Duration: 00:02:11Naked by Danielle Martin
Nov 03, 2025Naked
Danielle Martin
Naked in the truth that she is alone she hugs herself tightly and succeeds in creating the illusion of wellness. Damp eyes close as jaded lips conjure up wide smiles. Damn! Her mind begins to do its own thing again.Briefly, she forgets, as she floats on a magic carpet of memories, smiling, as death did not steal everything after all. Basking in apparent nothingness, she waits. No one knows her thoughts. But her silence, is better left a mystery. As she knows only too well, every beginning has an end.
...
Duration: 00:01:46Sunday Recap & Forty-Three Is Poetry by Maggie Devers
Nov 02, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Oct 27 - i don't remember being small by Momena Khan @still.in.my.d4afts_ on Instagram.
Oct 28 - What Are We by Laker Patience @laker.p_poet on Instagram. Her poetry anthology, Echoes of Colour, will be out soon.
Oct 29 - Green Soup by Tabitha Dial @TabithaDial on Instagram. Her book, Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide, is out now. Listen to me read Apparition Appetizers by Tabitha on Instagram @rembrandts.cure.
Oct...
Duration: 00:13:32"I would peel pomegranates for you—" by Hareem Ismail
Nov 01, 2025I would peel pomegranates for you—Not just slice them open, but gently with my fingers stained red— I would learn its anatomy, the way they bruise and break if held too harshly, the way they hold memories in every seed.I would sit at the table, a bowl between us as I unraveled the fruit slowly— almost reverently.I’d gather the delicate pieces and offer them to you like little treasures, letting the juice spill— dark and intoxicating.And in the simple act, I’d tell you everything— talk to you about the world and nothing at all, that I chose y...
Duration: 00:01:44Coffin monologue: The non-rhyming rant poem by Manasvita Sukthankar
Oct 31, 2025Coffin monologue: The non-rhyming rant poem
Manasvita Sukthankar
I love myself,but which one?Can I love the person that most hate?Does she deserve the ache in her chest?It feels like being trapped in a coffin alive, like death is leaning by the doorframe.If so,I'd like it to carry me home,and leave me on my bedroom floor to stay.
Maybe I feel safer in this coffin,No one can get to me.Maybe it's a shield that saves me, but from whom?The weight of this world?
I... Duration: 00:03:20
The Spider by Philippe Blenkiron
Oct 30, 2025The Spider
Philippe Blenkiron
"Is God a Spider?" I asked,"constantly weavingelectron threads into spiraling elemental webs?
His iron will, spun with a silk of liquid steel,torn by the slightest of whims? His tenacious tapestry resewn,a glistening embroidery of frosted jewelled fibrils?"
"God scares me," you said,
"In the corner of the room,observant, unmoving,a silent host of eyes.
His uncanny mechanics,a mystery of hydraulic inkwrapped in adhesive shadow.
"But He's a friend," she replied
"Call Him carpenter,cellar-dweller,a long-limbed daddy,
because He... Duration: 00:01:54
Green Soup by Tabitha Dial
Oct 29, 2025Green Soup
Tabitha Dial
(Halloween Night 2020)From a quiet keeping-space,I promise my motherghostto create meals and music.
Even if from dry bones and tangled memories, my vow as I unstem kale and spinach,add it to the copperlined pot with green onion, cilantro, yukon golds and snap peas.
Remember when I made your favorite souplast year? I caramelize the onions and recallthat patient pot.
I've spent almost 2 hours at the stove, there'sonly a little more: the garlic and gingersizzle in the pan, then slide into the pot. Another 10 minutes.
I... Duration: 00:02:09
What Are We by Laker Patience
Oct 28, 2025What Are We
Laker Patience
What are we? is there even a we, or is it possibly just a you and a me, a concoction of delusion, desire, mismatched expectations with no actual communication.What are we? what is this? Because my soul can't keep skinny dipping in the misread signals of others, it can't! My heart can't keep bungee jumping off of platforms made from shaky commitment, committing to shaky commitment, it's exhausting, it's exhausting to keep trying to cultivate seeds in farm lands offered to you as fertile, that bear testimony of harvest, of... Duration: 00:03:41i don't remember being small by Momena Khan
Oct 27, 2025i don't remember being small
Momena Khan
i was sitting beside her, my not-sister. we were eating oranges and she was laughing with her whole mouth open like joy had never betrayed her. i held my fruit too carefully, too clean, trying not to let the juice run down my wrists.she said, you never eat like you're hungry. i said, i don’t think i am.
i don’t remember being small. there are photos of me, hair sticking out in all directions, one sock off, holding a stick like it was a swor... Duration: 00:02:45
Sunday Recap & "What 42 years of life have taught me" by Maggie Devers
Oct 26, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Oct 20 - Places Passing By by Paige Keller @pk_fictions on Instagram. Her book, Now Everything Changes, is available now from her website: pkfictions.com.
Oct 21 - Keeping It This Way by Swan Melloh @three.letters.poetry on Instagram. Her poem, This is my insides, is published in the Spring/Summer 2025 issue of Kailon Magazine.
Oct 22 - "If love were a predator," by McKenzie Hager @lavendermorbs on Instagram. Her book, Ink, Grace, and F-Bo...
Duration: 00:08:11Garden of Eden by Yonsiri Rojas
Oct 25, 2025Garden of Eden
Yonsiri Rojas
lulling sunbeam through the boughssoothing ballad of a plum-haired dollhazy notes of pure joyher naked feet wet in fresh springicy water against bare sweet skina dim lonely shadow dancing to the sun
gauzy white dress softer thandandelions blown to an open skyotherworldly feeling of redemption
a honeyed fragrant apricot in milky palms;juicy flesh that gently stains her wristsconsume its almond-like pit, enjoy and die
More from Yonsiri Rojas ↓
@lvrimar on Instagram and SubstackMentioned in this episode:
Join the mailing li...
Duration: 00:01:33Bills for Bills of Bills for Bills by Charlotte Stuart
Oct 24, 2025Bills for Bills of Bills for Bills
Charlotte Stuart
They hand me bills for bills of bills for bills,Stacked like bricks in window sills. Pay what you owe, then pay what comes.A tangled song the system hums:A doctor’s bill, a phone bill too,A bill to tell me rent is due.A bill for water, light, and gas;A bill to fix my metro pass.I pay a bill to check my bills,
Then pay again for late fee thrills.They charge me more for paying late;A bill for daring to hesitate.It’s bills for bi... Duration: 00:01:50
Seventh Wonder by Joba the Poète
Oct 23, 2025Seventh Wonder
Joba the Poète
Seven wonders of the worldyet I trip like the leaning tower of Pisawhen you sing out my namewith a nine minus two, or rather still,six plus one,the seventh scale of the seventh chordyou love the most.What a time to feel this way,even such is time—and perchance God did not rest onthe seventh day,perhaps He spent seven more hoursperfecting your seventieth curve.
But I do not know this story of creationso well as to whether they were seven daysor they were seven years,bec... Duration: 00:02:18
"If love were a predator," by McKenzie Hager
Oct 22, 2025If love were a predator,I’d let it hunt me down.
While it prowled,I’d shuffle the leavesjust enough to be heard.
I’d welcome the weightof its body against mine.And when it struck,I’d go down smiling—
Let it take me.Let it tear me open.
Let me blissfully bleed my life awayas its mouth claimed the tender fleshof my thigha mark not of death,but devotion.
Because life without loveis just survivalanyway.
-M.L.
More from McKenzie Hager ↓
@lavendermorbs on InstagramHer book, Ink, Grace, and F-Bombs, is out now.<... Duration: 00:01:35Keeping It This Way by Swan Melloh
Oct 21, 2025Keeping It This Way
Swan Melloh
I am not your propertyI rather tell myself than youwho wears oblivion for shoes,walks without a knowing heart.I suppose it´s easierto leave you there without a clue,words unspoken in their truth,better gone, and far apart.
Don´t you ever stop to wonderwho´s the mistress of this distance?Call me goddess of this state,yet, would you ever know?
We should be the ending,not like my ancient persistence,not of love, not out of hate,not fading to ever grow.
Thi... Duration: 00:01:53
Places Passing By by Paige Keller
Oct 20, 2025Places Passing By
Paige Keller
Sitting on a patio sipping tea under the sun, writing notes intomy phone through the breeze. Imagining different days and newways to live - a place where I am me, whomever she is.Some place where you walk by and we are reintroduced for thevery first time. Your eyes and mine. Our minds far away andfamiliar - different now but two souls the same.
A breath of nostalgia and suddenly there’s a smell that I canalmost pinpoint but can never place. I imagine an embrace and a deep in... Duration: 00:01:53
Sunday Recap & Cast Off by Maggie Devers
Oct 19, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Oct 13 - House of Childhood by Nataša Benedičič @natasek_poetry_corner on Instagram. Childhood Reveries is her Substack. Her book, Whispers of the Inner Child, is out now.
Oct 14 - "Where will we get" by Sophia Nerenberg @sophia_the_writer10 on Instagram
Oct 15 - "I want to escape this world." by Lipy Goyal @thediaryofscript on Instagram. You can listen to me read another poem by Lipy on Instagram @rembrandts.cure
Oct 1...
Duration: 00:08:42"I dream of a happy ending." by Alena Peacock
Oct 18, 2025I dream of a happy ending.Perfect and unyielding.A quiet love, so loud, its deafening.Where I would not ever have to question their affection.I'd be so sure of this love, anxiety would dissipate.One filled with faultless words of promise, burning with hope.A brilliant, irreplaceable light, matching mine.An almost planned, adventurous future,that I could see in their eyes.Eventually,this ending will find me.
- Alena Peacock
More from Alena Peacock ↓
@n0t.a.poet on InstagramMentioned in this episode:
Join the ma...
Duration: 00:01:20Tell Me by Evita Arakelian
Oct 17, 2025Tell Me
Evita Arakelian
Tell me of a flavour I have forgotten,of a song I may have heard a stranger hum to her child in some store, some day.Tell me a story I know but end it differently or stopright in the middle and say: ‘morefor later.’ Tell me about the bakery
that will open near our home, on the eighthstreet. Remind me of what it was you said when I left my seat to have a cry in the theatre powder-room—(I didn’t want Little Nell to die). Tell meof all the... Duration: 00:01:44
Love Letter to the Lesion in My Brain by Erin Zarro
Oct 16, 2025Love Letter to the Lesion in My Brain
Erin Zarro
TW: explicit language, illness, mentions of deathHere’s a secret. This thing in my brain – this mass of cells and tissue — it’s not my friend – is it going to grow? Is it going to kill me?
Because I’ll tell you now: The Grim Reaper will have to drag me, screaming the whole way, from my life.
Because it is mine and I’m not fucking ready.
Not. Fucking. Ready.
I haven’t turned fifty yet, damn it. That’s too young to…yea... Duration: 00:03:03
"I want to escape this world." by Lipy Goyal
Oct 15, 2025I want to escape this world.And sit with somebody in a quiet place.Looking at the stars, imagine a new world.Drinking silence in a cup of coffeeThe chaos-free, serene spaceA cessation in this running worldWalking on green grass barefootRunning wildly in green, loose spaceExploring myself in the woodsReading books in a tree houseLit up the world with tiny stars of night.O What a majestic view of dancing lights!Watching the dreamy aurora borealisThe magical moon nights, different canvasses of sunsets in the sky, and the cheerful sunriseFlow of air through hairRustling of bushes, crushing of dried leavesThe...
Duration: 00:02:07"Where will we get" by Sophia Nerenberg
Oct 14, 2025Where will we getWith the attack? Will the caged bird Finally bend the metal? Or should it learn to pick the lock?
Where will we get With the oppression?Will the Princess Be forced to use her hair? Or be allowed to put on pants And climb her way down?
Where will we get With the ego?Will the lion pounce at every chanceAnd fail? Or choose wisely, Waiting for the pride?
Where will we getWith the hate? Will the fire burn And become all consuming?Or simmer only enough to warm our hands? To cook a...
House of Childhood by Nataša Benedičič
Oct 13, 2025House of Childhood
Nataša Benedičič
I would rest in a secret gardenWatering my unsaid thoughtsFor they had no other placeSince they were “too much”Waiting for life to unfoldLike a flower before meWith unplanned moments Yearning to arrive where I belong
Little knowing that some people Search for their purpose all their livesConstantly feeling they bloom in the wrong placesLoving things that never love them back
Growing pains were a certainty.That I was becoming an adultYet a part of me wanted to hang onTo the zest for life, a two-year-old holds
... Duration: 00:02:26
Sunday Recap & Seek Truth by Maggie Devers
Oct 12, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Oct 6 - Remember by Olivia Woods @owibia_writes on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. She is currently writing the first draft of her novel, What Remains Of Us.
Oct 7 - "Nobody is coming to save you" by Georgia Groza @catastrophic_yearning on Instagram
Oct 8 - "Gone are the days" by Rusha Chatterjee @blooming_ru on Instagram. You can listen to me read Rusha’ poem Hope Is over on Instagram @rembrandts.cure.
Oct 9 - Anot...
Duration: 00:10:31Twenty-First. Night. Monday by Anna Akhmatova
Oct 11, 2025Twenty-First. Night. Monday
Anna Akhmatova
Twenty-first. Night. Monday.Silhouette of the capitol in darkness.Some good-for-nothing–who knows why–made up the tale that love exists on earth.People believe it, maybe from lazinessor boredom, and live accordingly:they wait eagerly for meetings, fear parting,and when they sing, they sing about love.
But the secret reveals itself to some,and on them silence settles down...I found this out by accidentand now it seems I'm sick all the time.
Mentioned in this episode:
Join the mailing list to be the firs...
Duration: 00:01:25"If a tree falls" by Amelia Dunn
Oct 10, 2025"If a tree falls"
Amelia Dunn
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to notice does it make a sound?Does its impact even hit the ground? Will the wind still whistle Or will silence echo in the burrows of what once waswhat once was must be forgotfor leaves will fall again next autumn and shoots will spawn in the spring
does sadness fill you as you stare at an empty home or do you dance with excitement at the new creations that bloom within you knock down... Duration: 00:03:36
Another Day in May by Anthony Robinson
Oct 09, 2025Another Day in May
Anthony Robinson
Now more coffee and Brian Wilson And skittering creatures. I've eatenTacos for three days straight and DadIs still on oxygen. To feel intense griefNot right now is also to feel guiltyConcerning elements and microbesWhat makes a man sick is alsoWhat kills him, what kills a manIs also what sustains him. Here, loveIs a concept. Mercy is an actOf unshabby imagination. MotherPuts out food for the goldfinches,A famous athlete debases himselfTo the applause of at least dozens.I've been meaning to talk to you aboutThe shade-tree and all the shade-treePeople... Duration: 00:02:01"Gone are the days" by Rusha Chatterjee
Oct 08, 2025"Gone are the days"
Rusha Chatterjee
Gone are the dayswhen my house felt like home,now the rooms filled with thousandmemories feels like a cage,suffocating and cold,laughs from my childhood echoes throughout the space maybe to light a little spark of hopeless hope.The mint colour wallsare now pale and grim, the lack of warmth issurely from within,the rose wood furniture was a beauty to behold, now with layers of dustis an absolute eyesore.
The kitchen which always smelled like heaven, now occasionally whiffs of burntprepackaged Ramen,the porch with the... Duration: 00:01:59
"Nobody is coming to save you" by Georgia Groza
Oct 07, 2025"Nobody is coming to save you"
Georgia Groza
Nobody is coming to save you Stitch it back up, learn to live with it.The world doesn’t begin and end at the kitchen tablemore than likely everything is preceded by a bed.It ends with or without a death gripWith or without the altar and the hummingWith or without divine intervention or a prayer or a poem
Don’t correct me if I’ve told this story before.It is not misanthropic ramblingIt is not an excuse to pathologize you it is the unblinking chasm... Duration: 00:03:17
"Nobody is coming to save you" by Georgia Groza
Oct 07, 2025"Nobody is coming to save you"
Georgia Groza
Nobody is coming to save youStitch it back up, learn to live with it.The world doesn’t begin and end at the kitchen tablemore than likely everything is preceded by a bed.It ends with or without a death gripWith or without the altar and the hummingWith or without divine intervention or a prayer or a poem
Don’t correct me if I’ve told this story before.It is not misanthropic ramblingIt is not an excuse to pathologize you it is the unblinking chasm in my... Duration: 00:03:53
Remember by Olivia Woods
Oct 06, 2025Remember
Olivia Woods
Your apples were as savory as sunlight I can’t remember the last time they seemed so sweetThe last time they were as red as rosesThe last time they smelt so greatI fear there is nothing left here anymoreI can't remember how long I've been hereOr when the maggots cameI can’t remember when the taste had changedFrom sweet to sourWhen the rose color began to rot When these sores appearedI fear there is nothing left of me hereOnly the husk of my bodyThe salt from my tearsAnd the maggots I've eaten Trying to r... Duration: 00:01:44Sunday Recap & Kick It by Maggie Devers
Oct 05, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Sep 29 - Lebensabschnittspartner by Sarthak Mukherji @sarthaksays on Instagram and TikTok.
Sep 30 - Taemong by Kimberly McAfee @writerpoetkim on Instagram. The Savior/Shadow Principle: A Self-Help Technique and Philosophy Using Archetypes is out now along with, The Savior and the Shadow Queen: A Fantastical Tale Told Through Sequential Poems, the poetry collection and companion work to The Savior/Shadow Principle. This poem is published in her chapbook, AmerAsian: My Journey to Becoming Whole as a Mixe...
Duration: 00:14:20Bloodfruit by Abby Zhang
Oct 04, 2025Bloodfruit
Abby Zhang
Say it, like you used to peel blood oranges with your teeth, Ma.The flesh splits soft and shivering under the pressure,its rind stuck under your fingernails. Juice spilling—licking your lips with the same golden, bitter heat.Let the pith cling to your hands, burrow there like spoiled lace in the creases of your knuckles, a ghost of a daughter you couldn’t bear to name.Say it like an apology that came a heartbeat too late, sinking into mildew buried beneath nailbeds, sour and white.Too deep to name. Too... Duration: 00:03:00
Silver Filigree by Travers Charron
Oct 03, 2025Silver Filigree
Travers Charron
Before the day unbuttons its sky,while morning’s breath still clings to the grass, I find it—a single web,threaded between two branches, a silver filigreetrembling in dew.Each strand,so thin I dare not blink, holdsthe soft breath of the waking earth.No grand cathedral could matchthis tender architecture—woven by instinct,lit by grace,enduring the weight of a single drop without breaking.
I stop,breath caught, knowing I am the first to come this way.The trail is laced shut,a gate spun in secret hours... Duration: 00:02:33
i am not a poet by Kole Kealey
Oct 03, 2025i am not a poet
Kole Kealey
i touched rock bottom before i ever touched apen, so do not call me a poetcall me your mother tongue,
burning the back of your throat making yourblood boil, a taste you can’t quite name butrhymes with copper and death, with misery anddespair, the taste of childhood meant forsomeone else, one you didn’t experience butthrough the rose-colored lenses of your brokenheart tethered to a string being dragged throughbusted up concrete, through fragments of brokenglass and shattered dreams
call me salvation
on a Sund... Duration: 00:03:35
Grapes by Frankie Reed
Oct 01, 2025Grapes
Frankie Reed
we hung together —tight, green,not yet sweet.small things,skin against skin,no space for air.you leanedinto every breeze.I held still.neither of us saidwhat we knewabout weight.
we ripened unevenly.you softened.I didn’t.
the stalk grew thinbetween us.not broken —just tired.
when I fell,there was no sound.just grass.just air.just me,not where you were.
you stayed.you always would have.still facing the lightlike it was enough.
if I’d stayed too,maybe we’d have gonequietl... Duration: 00:02:26
Taemong by Kimberly McAfee
Sep 30, 2025Taemong
Kimberly McAfee
After Li-Young Lee*My mother had a dream of me,when she and I were one.She dreamed of a snakecoiled on her belly.It was her taemong, her conception dream, of me.
How Adam and Eve were so deceived!A wily snake, the fruit of the tree of knowledge.Introducing suffering on this earth.A snake condemned to writhe about the world on its belly.
I was strange when I was young;a half-Korean girl in a place with no other Asians or mixed people.How the other children... Duration: 00:02:53
Lebensabschnittspartner by Sarthak Mukherji
Sep 29, 2025Lebensabschnittspartner
Sarthak Mukherji
Lebensabschnittspartner.Life - section - partner.A gorgeous German distillationof something about as mystifyingas splitting an atom and the violence that follows, the wondrous shine.Have you ever sat with your hand on your sidecovering a pain you can't quite understandbut as soon as you are diagnoseda relief washes over you as this phantom is lassoed by a definition.Here is Lebensabschnittspartner for your wound.They were your whole heart, your soul matebut only till the expiration date.They were before the March and April of you.The right person for the... Duration: 00:04:50
Sunday Recap & Born Artist by Maggie Devers
Sep 28, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Sep 22 - "a walk from my Eve to my Lilith" by Eva Garg @thelifedraft on Instagram.
Sep 23 - Nikomis by Shelby Larkin @calamityverses on Instagram.
Sep 24 - Ash and Gardens by Jessica Sorya @jessicalynnvision on Instagram. Her book, Pinch, Breathe, Burn, is out soon.
Sep 25 - Clouds Have Always Been Women by Nanki Kandhari @therhymemuse_nanki on Instagram. Her book, The Girl Who Spoke In Starlight, is available now.
Sep...
Duration: 00:08:15Cliff by Ofelia ferch Rhos
Sep 27, 2025Cliff
Ofelia ferch Rhos
Salt spattered on chalk carves out the rough-hewn shape of thought:the cliff is a canvas wherethey escape me, and become mammoths on sandstone, scattered by stick-figured spears.
Magpies perch listless as dew and wing their words over the sea.The water ripples their birdsong agon.
Clouds crowd in anticipation-I am the heavens surrogate on earththey would rapture me, and leave
the cliff empty as a forgotten age.The stones know no different.I am their occupying army.
I kick the stones,kick the moss,kick... Duration: 00:01:52
Winds of reverie by Philippa Drake
Sep 26, 2025Winds of reverie
Philippa Drake
A lord soarsinto the azure expanseforsaking blood bondschasing the winds of libertyto repose in distant islandswhere no man yet resides.Friends of wondrous creatureshe dreams in covesand tunneled cavesat one with moonlightand dimensions of mystery.There he waitsfor time to spiralfaster and fasterinto a relentless vortexthat transports himto a sparkling agewhere he meetsanother lifeanother love.More from Philippa Drake ↓
@drakephilippa on InstagramHer book, Mystic Meanderings, is out nowMentioned in this episode:
Join the mailing list to be the first to know when OPO submissions op...
Duration: 00:01:25Clouds Have Always Been Women by Nanki Kandhari
Sep 25, 2025Clouds Have Always Been Women
Nanki Kandhari
Clouds have always been women—braided in softness,swollen with storiesthey were never allowed to pour.They gather, quietly,between gossiping winds and forgotten rooftops,holding storms in their bellyso that the harvest may thrive.
They do not arrive with announcements—only anklets of thunder,skirts stitched with rain,and a scent like old lullabies soaked in soil.
You call them moody.I call them magnificent.They grey with waiting,then split open—gracefully—so you may breathe.
They are motherswho refill rivers,loverswho never overstay... Duration: 00:02:15
Ash and Gardens by Jessica Sorya
Sep 24, 2025Ash and Gardens
Jessica Sorya
She asks me, “What did I want at nineteenthat I have now?”I answer, “Nothing. Everything I wanted is gone.”Every man I pedestaled, fell.toppled over, head heavy.Bless ‘em.Cowards.I’ve always been surrounded by womenscurrying,cleaning dirt from their nails,scrubbing blood from tile,handling shitwhen shit needed handling.They stitched silence into their spines,only let loosewhen the liquor was heavy.You should have seen them,the men, watchingas they carried entire familieswithout flinching.They’d bend,but would not break,even when the weightwasn’t theirs to carry... Duration: 00:02:29Nikomis by Shelby Larkin
Sep 23, 2025Nikomis
Shelby Larkin
Your smile sung out to sunshine& carried it across ages& every sunny day has a piece of you in itI think of you when a butterfly lands gently on a Black Eyed Susan Or a humming bird shimmers through the air
I think of you when a warm breeze touches the tree tops & they dance, glittering like emeraldsI think of you when childhood ease whispers gently against my soul
I think of giggling through trails in the forest& you showing me the magic that’s always there
I th... Duration: 00:01:43
"a walk from my Eve to my Lilith" by Eva Garg
Sep 22, 2025a walk from my Eve to my Lilitha swim within my own soul
One was made from your rib,the other, from the same soil as you.
One sacrificed herself for your love,the other loved herselfUntil there was nothing left to hate.
One poured herself into empty vesselsuntil they overflowed.The other filled her cup first,Before she emptied yours
One accepted the truth she was given,the other bent reality to fit her fire.
To one, we owe origin.To the other, feminine rage.
One was never enough.The other was always...
Sunday Recap & Theory by Maggie Devers
Sep 21, 2025Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Sep 15 - First Person Account of a Seed by Vinita Agrawal @vinitaagrawal18 on Instagram. Her book Eartha is out now.
Sep 16 - the listener by Laura Theis @wodehouse_and_i on Instagram. Her book, Introduction to Cloud Care, is available now. Her children’s poetry book, Poems from a Witch’s Pocket, is also available now.
Sep 17 - I am the dove by GiGi @thegigirising on Instagram. Her books, The Scorpio Rising, and The Mari...
Duration: 00:09:08A Pocketful of Joy by Mishty Singh
Sep 20, 2025A Pocketful of Joy
by Mishty Singh
Joy doesn't always dance in paradesor call your name from mountaintops.Sometimes, it drifts in quietly the same way light pools on windowsills,the same way a breeze remembers your hair.It hides in mismatched teacups,in songs that start slow and end in smiles,in the rustle of pages at midnight,and the comfort of socks pulled just right.
A butterfly doesn’t know how much wonder it carries.A laugh, once shared,can echo longer than any storm.
These are the things we tuck in... Duration: 00:01:37
When I fall asleep by Jessica Lyon-Wall
Sep 19, 2025When I fall asleep
by Jessica Lyon-Wall
I was 12 when they brought me back. The process Was a slow one, over a year I went unnoticed, Pale, thin, and guzzling My brother's juice in secret.One day I went to sleep And didn't wake up. I don't know how I got there, But I remember some bright lights. Then starched sheets and my teddy,The wires in my hair. They said I had been gone 3 days,Link up my machines, I could be an industry!
(This is perhaps a story I should never tell) <... Duration: 00:02:21
Sometimes by Hania Anwar
Sep 18, 2025Sometimes
by Hania Anwar
SometimesI wish I was born aManin true Plath-ian fashionto roam the desolate fieldsat Dusky Dawnwithout the gripping fearof being stripped bare andTornIf I were a Man I wonderwould I fight half as much with my mother?Would she chastise me for not wordlessly helping around the house were I a Son and not adaughter?Would my father have turned away the childish outstretched handthat reached towards his noisy busy factorywere I a Son and not adaughter?If I were a Manwould I have worried about unborn childrenpart of un-lived futures and the... Duration: 00:01:54I am the dove by GiGi
Sep 17, 2025I am the dove
by GiGi
I am the dove.My song is mournful,a single nerve splitting cry outin painbecause it’s fucking rainingand pouringwith pressure and bullshitand there’s nothing I can do to stop itand it feels like I’ll absolutely burstbefore a diamond is formed.
I am the dove.
I bring the waterthrough tearsand motherhoodand a basket of fresh laundrythat always happens to wind up on the bed,in a lump, similar to the one stuck in my throatfrom all of the wordsthat I want to spitin your face.
I a... Duration: 00:02:22