Here’s your recap of this week’s poems plus one new poem to carry us into the week ahead.
Dec 15 - The Keeper’s Dream by Kiki Johnson @kiki_poetry on Instagram
Dec 16 - The Belle Of Yule by Melani Udaeta @melrose_poetry18 on Instagram. Her book, Of Love and Music, is out now.
Dec 17 - Clava Cairns by Jessica Aure Pratt @jessaure.poetry on Instagram. @jessaurepoetry on Substack. You can listen to me read Into the Abyss by Jessica on Instagram @rembrandts.cure.
Dec 18 - The Art of Returning by Dr. Deepak Dev @deeepak.devv on Instagram. @drdeepakdev on Substack. His book, Symphony of the Erased - Verses Resurged & Reclaimed, is out now.
Dec 19 - Angels In Our Mouths by Sandra Beth Levy @slevy43 on Instagram. Her first poetry book, Unfurling The Scroll Of Seven Decades, will be out in 2026.. Sandra has had recent poems published in the Roots and Ruins: Poetry Anthology published by Arcana Poetry Press. And Issue 1 of A Curious Moon, an online literary magazine. As well as The Vagabond’s Verse-Weekly Verses on December 5th. And three poems in a SHINE Poetry Series spotlight on December 10th.
Dec 20 - Still Light Unveils by Marissa M. Zhu @marissazhu on Instagram. @marissamzhu on Substack where she publishes The Wanting: A literary exploration of desire as generative force—neither absence to cure nor state to transcend. Love notes to the hunger that never resolves, only transforms. Her debut poetry manuscript, Memories We’ve Never Made, blends cinematic lyricism with psychological precision. In this 30-piece collection, Marissa examines how even unrealized loves can leave indelible imprints.
Dec 21
But For A Sacred Deer
Maggie Devers
They come like rabid dogs
Baying for blood
And fling tired tropes
Into the air
Like drums beating
A dead horse
And it’s simple
How we tear ourselves to pieces
For the sake of a few bad apples,
How we let the loudest voices take hold
To find a scapegoat
And spill,
and spill,
and spill the blood
In hope for winds to come
And free us from this horrid place
Never questioning where the gale leads
Or what we’ll find when we get there.
More from Maggie Devers ↓
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
