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One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise.
Sadness learned my name
before I learned how to answer.
It waits
behind my teeth
when I say I’m fine.
I used to shake
the moment I knew.
Hands too loud.
Breath missing.
My heart running
like it heard something
I couldn’t.
Heat rushing
through narrow places,
every nerve lit up
looking for an exit.
Now, when the same knowing comes,
my body does something else.
It goes quiet.
No shaking.
No warning.
Just the sudden absence
of feeling.
Like someone
stepped out of the room
and left the lights on.
I bleed without sound
and call it ink.
Silence presses its thumb
into my chest,
not to hurt me—
just checking
if I’m still here.
Some poems begin as tears
I don’t feel
until much later.
Others are the way
I leave the moment
without moving.
I write from places
that never healed right,
only learned
how to disappear.
Melancholy isn’t how I feel.
It’s how my hand moves
when I stay.
I mourn
what almost worked,
what hurt enough
to teach my body
how to leave.
I don’t write to be heard.
I write
so the sadness knows
someone stayed
when I couldn’t.
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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.
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