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

Jan 26 - Born of Ashes by Goldilocks @goldenprisonpoetry on Instagram.

Jan 27 - The Mythical Hero of Legend has Clinical Depression by Oscar W Isaacs @oscarwritesaacs on Instagram.

Jan 28 - Cheap Therapy Cheat Sheet by Tanja Lau @tanias.butterflies on Instagram. Tania's Butterflies on Substack. Listen to me read Rumors by Tanja on Instagram @rembrandts.cure

Jan 29 - The Grief that Grips Our World by Raquel Dionísio Abrantes @poets_desk on Instagram.

Jan 30 - Without The Noise by Dipanwita Dey @iamdipanwitadey on Instagram.

Jan 31 - Chai and Chrysanthemum by Mahnoor Rehan @smearedwithcrimson on Instagram.

Feb 1

Through the Sound

Maggie Devers

How much longer will we keep up the farce

How much longer will the charade last?

We thrive onscreen with tricks of light and sound

Our entire world–galaxy–is cut off from the rest of the universe

We fill this void by lashing out

By forgetting why we're here

By rushing through the good parts

And replaying the bad ones

The things they promised would never happen

Now occur at such a frequency,

There is no time to parse their sounds

The morning birdsong is immense and unwavering

A reminder not to close your ears

A reminder that the small and weak are us,

As are the brutes

We only have to look them in the eyes to know–

One day we will die.

Familiar things become deranged

There is a part of us that remembers these horrors

Because we’ve seen them before

In the hours we wait for understanding

The smell of a familiar stuffed bear

Of pancakes on the griddle

Rosemary scented palms, sticky with the smelling

Where do pain and fear live?

In the small quiet corners of our body

Where they try not to cry,

Where they bite their lip

Look deep into the middle distance

And imagine they are safe.

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

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