(love) I’ve been trying to make our (baby) without our bodies
I threw some bones on the page I wrote;
you are a ghost that’s never lived
little side mirror spell
(love) I made our (baby) a ghost to get our (baby) here
who said that?
what a man won’t do
to get what he wants?
forgive me? (love) I thought I knew something
about loving I was longing I thought I knew something
about ghosts I’m closer to Okri
than I am a father
spirit-child wounded wound my mouth that won’t close
what kind of ghost has never been alive?
unborn born and ghost again?
(baby) I’m sorry
I’m sorry to bring you forth like this
into suffering
Copyright © 2026 by Tyree Daye. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on February 11, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.