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

Presence of Choice

Alecia Lewis

I hold no one.

They can come or go.

Freely.

Unbound.

They may disconnect

Online

or in person.

People may condemn me.

I remain unshaken.

Judgment falls.

I do not carry it.

If exiting brings peace,

I let them go.

With love.

With grace.

I hold only those

Who choose to stay.

The rest are shadows.

I release them gently.

More from Alecia Lewis ↓

1. @neutralmuse73 on Instagram and Substack

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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