Poem of the Day
Start each day with a poem delivered to your inbox! Poems are selected by Poetry Foundation editors and guests to correspond with historic events, poet anniversaries, and more from the 49,000+ poem archive.
Torso of Air
By Ocean Vuong
Suppose you do change your life.
& the body is more than
a portion of night––sealed
with bruises. Suppose you woke
& found your shadow replaced
by a black wolf. The boy, beautiful
& gone. So you take the knife to the wall
instead. You carve & carve
until a coin of light appears
& you get to look in, at last,
on happiness. The eye
staring back from the other side––
waiting.
A note from the editor:
Ocean Vuong was born on this day in 1988.
Sign Up to Receive the Poem of the Day
RECENT POEMS OF THE DAY
Poem
By Suzi F. Garcia
Poem
By Gabrielle Calvocoressi
Poem
By Marosa di Giorgio
Poem
By Nick Makoha