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Poets.org mobileMenu Poems Poets Poem-a-Day National Poetry Month Materials for Teachers Literary Seminars American Poets Magazine Main navigation Poets.org Academy of American Poets National Poetry Month American Poets Magazine User account menu Log in Membership Donate Donate Donate Search Submit Poetry offers us that silence—that quiet space. —Ada Limón, United States Poet Laureate Page submenu block find poems find poets poem-a-day literary seminars materials for teachers poetry near you Poem-a-day When The World Falls in Around You or, Vows to My Palestinian Wife on Our Wedding Day about About this Poem This poem is about my wedding day—a celebration of queer love, (mostly chosen) family, Indigenous ways of knowing and being, and hope. I am disgusted to say that the world continues to struggle with the trauma of an ongoing and unchecked genocide of the Palestinian people; and when I was asked to submit work for the Poem-a-Day series, I could not imagine proposing anything other than a poem that offers love and solidarity in the face of this horror. Inspired to write a piece that offers the best healing I know of, I chose to remember an event that honors the promise of enduring love and resistance and our collective liberation. It includes some of my actual wedding vows to my wife, Halla, who is proudly Palestinian. Writing this poem has reminded me of what we must all do—shamelessly love each other, always stand up for what is right, and embody community and resilience, which brings others into solidarity, until we are all free. Saina Ma’åse’.” —Lehua M. Taitano Load audio player Academy of American Poets · Lehua M. Taitano: "When The World Falls in Around You . . ." after Naomi Shihab Nye We on the sea cliff all thrill at December’s licking wind [[[call down a watery sky (a ritual) call on grasses stamped with Saturday shoes (a circle) call up the kissing foam (a washing) call to familia, mostly chosen, (a mending)]]] and hover, for a time in exquisite love. My sister unfurls her golden kaftan, yokes our hearts’ zealous champing [[[calls upon the holy (poetry) calls upon our circle (familia) calls upon our ancestors (saina) calls upon the cosmos (guma’)]]] and sings It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness The winter sky sings my brother’s proud trembling jaw, your father’s bursting radiant heart. And you, zaytun of my heart, i asagua-hu. You wrapped in tales of tatreez, your mother’s thobe. My dress is made of water and invisible feathers dipped in moonlight. I sing [[[ Halla. New moon. Sinåhi. Hagu I pilån-hu. Let us keep each other safe and soothed and seen. Let us be in each other’s eyes and minds and guts. Let us tend our twining love so that it spirals, ever upward, ever outward, ever toward our shared home. The osprey overhead clutches a plump gulping fish, anoints us with i tåsi. I promise to always to hold you with patience, humility, and compassion. I promise to honor you, your ancestors, and your homeland as I honor my own. I promise to never stop fighting, until we see freedom for our lands and people. Let us share our struggles, along with our joys. Let us share our pain, along with our bliss. Let us share everything, together, i guinaiya-ku, sa’ tåya’ åmot para man guaiguaiya fuera di mas guinaiya’. (Because there is no medicine for being in love, except for more love.) ]]] Copyright © 2024 by Lehua M. Taitano. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 14, 2024, by the Academy of American Poets. read the rest Lehua M. Taitano Add to anthology × Sign up for Poem-a-Day * indicates required Email Address * Poems 15786 poems In The Matter Of Two Men One does such work as one will not, And well each knows the right; Though the white storm howls, or the sun is hot, The black must serve the white. And it’s, oh, for the white man’s softening flesh, While the black man’s muscles grow! Well I know which grows the mightier, James D. Corrothers 1922 Compensation O, rich young lord, thou ridest by With looks of high disdain; It chafes me not thy title high, Thy blood of oldest strain. The lady riding at thy side Is but in name thy promised bride. Ride on, young lord, ride on! James Edwin Campbell 1922 A Poem for My Wife I’m in my room writing speaking in myself & I hear you move down the hallway to water your plants I write truth on the page I strike the word over & over yet I worry you’ll pour too much water on the plants & the water will overflow onto the books ruining them If I can’t speak out of myself how can I tell you I don’t care about the plants? how can I tell you I don’t care if the books get wet? David Meltzer 2005 I Have Folded My Sorrows I have folded my sorrows into the mantle of summer night, Assigning each brief storm its allotted space in time, Quietly pursuing catastrophic histories buried in my eyes. And yes, the world is not some unplayed Cosmic Game, And the sun is still ninety-three million miles from me, And in the imaginary forest, the shingled hippo becomes the gray unicorn. No, my traffic is not with addled keepers of yesterday’s disasters, Seekers of manifest disembowelment on shafts of yesterday’s pains. Bob Kaufman 1965 Poets 4192 poets Photo credit: Anna Min Danez Smith Danez Smith is the author of Don’t Call Us Dead (Graywolf Press, 2017) and [insert] boy (YesYes Books, 2014). Read more about Danez SmithJackie Wang Jackie Wang is the author of the poetry collection The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us from the Void (Nightboat, 2021), which was longlisted for the National Book Award. Read more about Jackie WangPhoto credit: Nancy Wong Janice Mirikitani Janice Mirikitani was born on February 4, 1941, in Stockton, California. Read more about Janice MirikitaniPhoto credit: Paula Champagne Chen Chen Chen Chen is the author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017). Read more about Chen ChenMeg Day Meg Day grew up in California’s Bay Area and received a BA from the University of California, San Diego, an MFA from Mills College, and a PhD from Read more about Meg DayFeatures May 2024 Poem-a-Day Guest Editor Noʻu Revilla Listen to a short Q&A where Noʻu Revilla discusses her curatorial process for Poem-a-Day. Poem-a-Day Guest Editors in 2024 Since 2018, the Academy of American Poets has invited twelve new Guest Editors to each curate a month of Announcements May 9, 2024 New York, NY (May 9, 2024)—The Academy of American Poets calls for applications for the 2024–25 fellowship program for aspiring literary arts administrators in collaboration with the Poe Read more April 22, 2024 In honor of Earth Day, we invited four poets to collaborate on a new poem that conveys our interconnected struggle for environmental justice. Read more April 22, 2024 New York, NY (April 22, 2024)—For Earth Day, which is today, April 22, the Academy of American Poets announces the winners of the 2024 Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize, which honors e Read more Awards American Poets Magazine Produced exclusively for our members, the Spring–Summer issue features cover art by Childe Hassam; essays by Eunsong Kim, Joseph Drew Lanham, and Norman Minnick. Become a member to receive your digital and physical copy of the most recent issue of American Poets . … and much more Become a member to receive your copy of American Poets twice a year. 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