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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

Working at the Distillery

Last summer, I rose 
before dawn, crept 
through the house still 
pregnant with sleep, 
pulled on tattered jeans,  
a stained sweatshirt, 
a baseball cap  
ragged with wear, 
grabbed my coffee and lunch 
from the fridge, and drove 
south to Watsonville 
to unload grapes 
in the early morning light. 
All day, I shoveled them 
into the destemmer, 
then into the juicer, 
the golden liquid 
sweeter than ambrosia. 
I filled tanks to ferment, 
piled the empty stems 
picked clean onto 
the compost heap, 
refilled the tank on the fork- 
lift, hid the keys, 
and followed the sun 
that had already set, 
chasing the low glow 
at the horizon  
as the stars came out, 
constellations 
I could hardly raise 
my eyes to see.

Copyright © 2026 by Jake Young. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 22, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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Jake Young

Jake Young
Courtesy of Jake Young
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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Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Dorianne Laux is the Guest Editor for April. Read or listen to a Q&A with Laux about his curatorial process, and learn more about the 2026 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
Chaïm Soutine: The Errant Road, 1939 Cole Swensen 03/22/2016
Serious Moonlight Camille Guthrie 03/21/2016
In This Age of Hard Trying, Nonchalance Is Good and Marianne Moore 03/20/2016
The Florist Wears Knee-Breeches Wallace Stevens 03/19/2016
Colorado Carl Adamshick 03/18/2016
Opportunity Costs Barbara Ras 03/17/2016
Cross Heart David Biespiel 03/16/2016
Utopia: Love as Last Day Joe Hall 03/15/2016
When Doves R. A. Villanueva 03/14/2016
March Evening Amy Lowell 03/13/2016

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