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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

Who

Who are the other mammals
full of feathers 
who miss their harsh
fathers like I do,

who collect leather pipes
& hoop dresses like I do,
who send their mothers
supermarket rose bouquets,

who prefer their bodies
ringed round with zippers?
Where are the other
animals that wallow

in purple fringed regret
like I do?
Who are the other mammals
with cloven cracked

chests who stitch
sharp darts 
in their flesh like I do?
O, isn’t it a hopeless

loneliness of kitchens
when you don’t know 
anyone
to give your everything to?

Copyright © 2025 by Abe Louise Young. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on July 11, 2025, by the Academy of American Poets.

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Abe Louise Young

Abe Louise Young
Courtesy of Abe Louise 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Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. 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
The Coming of Night Skipwith Cannell 03/16/2024
But for now the music swings from her lacquered radio Yona Harvey 03/15/2024
2-Sided Map Shows Line Where Falling Bodies Will Land Brenda Shaughnessy 03/14/2024
Yes It Will Rain (or Prayer for Our First Home) Patrick Rosal 03/13/2024
This Too Shall Pass Kim Addonizio 03/12/2024
You’re the Top Ellen Bass 03/11/2024
The Alpine Sheep Maria White Lowell 03/10/2024
A Southern Night Matthew Arnold 03/09/2024
Emesis Keetje Kuipers 03/08/2024
ectopic Tyler Mills 03/07/2024

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