One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise.

First Draft

Jo Wright

I don’t want AI.

I want bees and seas

Deep evergreen forests

Great honeycombs

Icecaps.

Just, knowledgeable lovers

Men needing others

People questioning rhetoric

Speaking truth

Understanding Vaccinations

A world where we exclude no one

Years where there is still ozone.

I want words to matter

And when I draft my patter

I don’t want my phone to ask

‘Can I rewrite that for you?’

I want credit where credit’s bloody due

And throwing that swear word in

Stops Google taking the line from you.

I want water poured into humanity

Until everyone’s cup is full

Until this thief clad in microchips

Burns itself out.

I want precisely zero of your excuses

Wailing viciously under this sky

Retreat quietly please

Out to no man’s land

Keeping jealous ignorance of

How generosity feeds

Everyone’s delicate creativity

Better without AI.

I don’t want it.

I want to reclaim the land.

More from Jo Wright ↓

1. @joslipstick on Instagram

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Poetry slows us down. Thank you for listening.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice. We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO