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

adulthood

Carlee Wilson

gone are the days where my ceiling

twinkled with plastic magic

and the only house i worried about was barbie’s.

it didn’t matter if ken came home or not,

didn’t matter if stacie’s car had a flat

or if joe’s deployment was extended.

boy, i’d kill for a mud pie right now,

full of everything we’ve been taught to avoid,

devoid of everything we’ve been taught matters.

i wish i could sit on the playground swing

and twist the clinking chains around and around

and scream as i spin violently back to center.

back to before the world did it for me,

back to when it felt good.

More from Carlee Wilson ↓

1. @poetcarlee on Instagram

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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