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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 Poet

If I could be brave enough and live long enough I could crawl inside the life of every man, woman and child in America. After I had gone within them I could be born out of them. I could become something the like of which has never been seen before. We would see then what America is like.

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on March 22, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Sherwood Anderson

Sherwood Anderson
Courtesy of Wikimedia
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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Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year.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
valentine for Sally Hemings Sojourner Ahebee 06/19/2014
With Passing Wonder I Notice the Tracks of an Animal David Biespiel 06/18/2014
Life’s Ironies Jane Miller 06/17/2014
What Are They Doing in the Next Room Bruce Smith 06/16/2014
My Father’s Hats Mark Irwin 06/15/2014
Rite de Passage and the Irony of the Sharpshooter John Kinsella 06/13/2014
Before and Every After Marianne Boruch 06/11/2014
The Affair Wayne Miller 06/11/2014
Labor as a Tulip Karen Volkman 06/10/2014
Old Folks' Jokes Ravi Shankar 06/09/2014

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