One Poem Only is a daily ritual: one poem, center stage, just for now.

Only Sleeping

Jo Guzman

The flavor of “Fuck you” smacked across my lips when I woke

Not so much in anger

More like calm clarity

I touched my heart with my right hand

The one that used to pledge allegiance to many things

I believed the stories for so long

The ones about love and heroes and good

Until I realized the truth often died with those mortally silenced because the empire said so

My hand and my heart set about their work

Counter clockwise circles

Unravelling layers of grief and shame and anger

No wonder there was so much pressure

And then I felt the flicker

That little flame

The one that never extinguished no matter what

No matter what form of fear held me by the throat until I almost stopped caring about my own breath

Almost

Almost

Little did I know that the dragon was only sleeping

Deep in my heart

The nearly obscene pressure a message from my body

Wake up

There is no hiding

No more, none

It’s fire season, you know

Aries

Rising, rising, rising

Burn it down

Fire purifies

My heart on my hand stopped

As I realized the gift…

Rest

Do it now

For the battle is coming

And God needs her best soldiers ready

More from Jo Guzman ↓

• @mjvcoast on Instagram
• @acuppajoguzman on Substack
• Her books, Craving & 28, are out now

Support + Stay Connected to OPO

If you’d like to support the show, Substack and Patreon members receive a copy of my book, For My Daughter, along with episodes from the audiobook.

Feed yourself poetry every day.

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After 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. If you want to join: Listen to a poem from the month of April on One Poem Only, then write your own in response. I will pick one for each day to read in June for a special series: One Poem After 🍎🍏 Submissions close May 15.

Write After Submissions Form