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

Sep 1 - The Bleeding of Dreams by Dean Charpentier @mrcharps on Instagram. His most recent publication: two poems featured in B O D Y literary journal

Sep 2 - The Playground by David Park

Sep 3 - When I die, lay me down under a willow tree by Peyton Michelle Bryant @mama.laloba on Instagram. Peyton Bryant on Substack. Her book, Feral Mother, Sovereign Woman, is out now.

Sep 4 - A memorial service before death by Adheena S Farhan @carbon_dat.ed on Instagram.

Sep 5 - Accidental Birds by Deborah Howard @deborahcrafts on Instagram. Her book, Haiku 52: A Journey Through the Year, is out now.

Sep 6 - Stillness of Light by J. Ishaan @__fire_fist_29 on Instagram.

Sep 7

I Worry

About running out of wine

About my daughter’s friend’s mom not liking me

And no one liking my poems,

About not writing any more good ones

About the dishes and the laundry,

No strike that—

About not worrying about the dishes and the laundry

And the endless list of worries.

I’m exhausted just putting this down

So I will put it down

All of it.

I’ll set gentle fire to it

And rub the ashes over my tanned skin

And comb my chlorine scented hair

Then I’ll go find some mushrooms and let the rest of it fly away

To live without me

For I can be reborn every day

And lately I want to

And I don’t know why that scares me.

- Maggie Devers

More from Maggie Devers ↓

• Read my debut poetry book, For My Daughter
• Follow me on Instagram for more poetry @rembrandts.cure

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