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Poem-a-day

i didn’t eat the sun

but

          it

                                  poured

                                                                    into

                                                                               me

 

I didn’t eat the ocean but the waves of the

south the east the west and the north

lapped against my feet and my soles drank

in the saltwater i didn’t eat the roads but a

thousand miles of asphalt rebuilt my bones

filling in all the faultlines all the places worn

down to breakage i didn’t eat the monte but

the earth the scent of earth the scent of

monte the scent of lluvia filled me and filled

me and remade my flesh i didn’t run with the

coyotes but i howled with them i howled with

them and

 

remembered

                               what

                                            freedom

                                                                        was


 

i didn’t eat the wind but it found my mouth

and poured in and i felt my wings my

shriveled long forgotten wings filling and

stretching and reaching and unfolding how

was it i’d forgotten myself how was it i’d

collapsed and collapsed in on myself i didn't

eat the sun but all the light came streaming

in and oh with what gladness with what

relief with what joy i received it so much

light when i hadn't even known

 

i’d

             been

                              sitting

                                            in

                                                          the

                                                                       dark

Copyright © 2026 by ire’ne lara silva. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on March 25, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.

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ire’ne lara silva

ire’ne lara silva
Courtesy of ire’ne lara silva
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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Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Danusha Laméris is the Guest Editor for March. Read or listen to a Q&A with Laméris 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
The Affair Wayne Miller 06/11/2014
Labor as a Tulip Karen Volkman 06/10/2014
Old Folks' Jokes Ravi Shankar 06/09/2014
The Line-Gang Robert Frost 06/08/2014
My Brook Helen Hay Whitney 06/07/2014
My Yoko Ono Moment David Trinidad 06/06/2014
Flight 214 Sally Bliumis-Dunn 06/05/2014
Stilling to North Arthur Sze 06/04/2014
The Pink Crosses Amanda Auchter 06/03/2014
Verge Mark Doty 06/02/2014

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