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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

A Good Doctor

A good doctor  
Makes the recommendation  
To have both 
Breasts removed  
Because of your history and because of World War Three 

If it comes back  
A good doctor holds your hand   
She answers emails  
She says have both breasts removed  
Lifted off and ground up for food 

Food for babies  
Food for mothers 
A good doctor replaces them with bags of birdseed  
You buy her a wedding cake decorated with breasts made of sugar 
Marzipan mother breast and marzipan father breast 

They don’t speak to each other  
They kiss in the dark 
The cancer center has comfortable chairs and a view of the Willamette  
A good doctor pulls you up by the roots of your hair  
Gray jellyfish hair   

Lightning seen out the window of an airplane at night  
You are flying at night  
It’s Mother’s Day  
You have a comfy chair  
A good doctor is flying with you

Copyright © 2025 by Michael Dickma. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 19, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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Michael Dickman

Michael Dickman
Photo credit: Matthew Dickman
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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Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Khaled Mattawa is the Guest Editor of December. Read or listen to a Q&A with Mattawa 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
Entry 003 from I love you and I’m not dead Sade LaNay 11/09/2018
My Poem for My Stepdaughter Prageeta Sharma 11/08/2018
future somatics to-do list Jen Hofer 11/07/2018
Feast Green and Stained Paul Cunningham 11/06/2018
In the Animal Garden of My Body Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello 11/05/2018
The Unreturning Wilfred Owen 11/04/2018
She Walketh Veiled and Sleeping Charlotte Perkins Gilman 11/03/2018
J. Chamberlain Jeffrey Yang 11/02/2018
Aging Rosmarie Waldrop 11/01/2018
Epistemological Rose Zinnia 10/31/2018

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