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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

[ ]

—after Frank O’Hara and Katy Porter

Dear, I wished you heavens.
If not heavens, earths.
And if a little hell, I prayed the tears
I hid as wet, incandescent smiles
were an ocean on brimstone.
You are one of one.
I never said: Good morning, my heart
but I was the indigo in your hair.
I was keeping time when you danced.
I was stillness and tremor,
break and breach, 
your pen and your cane.
No, I never said: I’m in love with you. 
I said: I dreamed of a child
with your eyes, with your hands.
You are one of one. 
The unrenounceable.
Do not fear death.
You’ll be beautiful 
in the grave.
You’ll be beautiful 
in the Judgment line,
the sun recounting sins 
against our siblings for eons. 
And the shadow I cast
standing outside your garden
will be our cover. 
Dear, I was never lonely. 
I was never cold. 
I was wreathing our canopy.
Some day you’ll love Ladan Osman.
After the hours. After all light.

Copyright © 2026 by Ladan Osman. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 23, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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Ladan Osman

Ladan Osman
Photo credit: Beowulf Sheehan
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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Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Chris Abani is the Guest Editor for February. Read or listen to a Q&A with Abani 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
Gradeschool’s Large Windows Thomas Lux 08/14/2012
Self-Portrait as Letter Addressed to Self J. Michael Martinez 08/14/2012
The Thousand Somethings of Someone Forrest Gander 08/12/2012
Go, lovely rose! Edmund Waller 08/12/2012
An August Midnight Thomas Hardy 08/11/2012
RAG SMELL. FIRE Joan Houlihan 08/10/2012
A Feeling of AND, a Feeling of OR Sherod Santos 08/09/2012
To Last D. A. Powell 08/08/2012
Third Word from the East Fanny Howe 08/07/2012
Gihon Donald Revell 08/06/2012

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