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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

There’s no “sass” in “dissociation.”

three feet behind my grin I speak
so seems my teeth is down for it
but it’s a make-do I do.
I DM P. L. Dunbar on some 
whatchu mean “we?” no—
really, though. the rough metric
opening this a lie to make 
done the otherwise I say I is.
yet, the we I been subtweets 
me—“whatchu mean ‘I?’”—
answer’s off my tongue, so: 
authentic, no? where “fine,” “OK,”
“yes” get forged? I split my difference
between here and gone, 
a distance of hard words 
hissed; presence of the harms’
numb climb: I’m fine, I’m fine.

Copyright © 2025 by Douglas Kearney. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on July 10, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Douglas Kearney

Douglas Kearney
Photo credit: Krizia Studios
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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Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Khadijah Queen is the Guest Editor of July. Read or listen to a Q&A with Queen about her 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
From “Fairies” Mei-mei Berssenbrugge 09/17/2013
Get Up, Please David Kirby 09/16/2013
To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth Phillis Wheatley 09/15/2013
Marriage William Carlos Williams 09/14/2013
My Bright Aluminum Tumblers Michael Ryan 09/13/2013
Why Poetry Can Be Hard for Most People Dorothea Lasky 09/12/2013
On Disappearing Major Jackson 09/11/2013
Given Joanna Klink 09/10/2013
Time Study Marvin Bell 09/09/2013
The Heart of a Woman Georgia Douglas Johnson 09/08/2013

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