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Poem-a-Day

The only daily poetry series publishing new work by today’s poets.

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Poem-a-day

A Good Doctor

A good doctor  
Makes the recommendation  
To have both 
Breasts removed  
Because of your history and because of World War Three 

If it comes back  
A good doctor holds your hand   
She answers emails  
She says have both breasts removed  
Lifted off and ground up for food 

Food for babies  
Food for mothers 
A good doctor replaces them with bags of birdseed  
You buy her a wedding cake decorated with breasts made of sugar 
Marzipan mother breast and marzipan father breast 

They don’t speak to each other  
They kiss in the dark 
The cancer center has comfortable chairs and a view of the Willamette  
A good doctor pulls you up by the roots of your hair  
Gray jellyfish hair   

Lightning seen out the window of an airplane at night  
You are flying at night  
It’s Mother’s Day  
You have a comfy chair  
A good doctor is flying with you

Copyright © 2025 by Michael Dickma. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 19, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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Michael Dickman

Michael Dickman
Photo credit: Matthew Dickman
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Khaled Mattawa is the Guest Editor of December. Read or listen to a Q&A with Mattawa about his curatorial process, and learn more about the 2025 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

Title Author Date
Materials for a Gravestone Rubbing Matthew Wimberley 01/10/2023
I’m Not Faking My Astonishment, Honest Paige Lewis 01/09/2023
Winter Remembered John Crowe Ransom 01/08/2023
A Gull Goes Up Léonie Adams 01/07/2023
off the shore of oneself as in . . . Renia White 01/06/2023
To the Young Second Lieutenant Standing Behind Me in Line Rob Greene 01/05/2023
Elastic Love Contrapuntal Sarah Cooper 01/04/2023
I Went Out to Hear Leila Chatti 01/03/2023
cinquains written during a tropical storm Urayoán Noel 01/02/2023
New Year’s Chimes Francis Thompson 01/01/2023

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