Hello Friends,
Happy National Poetry Month 2025! In celebration, I will be sending you one poem per day just for the month of April: 30 days, 30 poems, 30 poets.
For those of you new to the list: No prior poetry experience is required! I try my best not to send you some obtuse obscure long ode that’s impossible to understand. My selections do skew heavily, but not exclusively, to American poets writing in English — hence the name “Meet Me in 811,” the Dewey Decimal Code for American Poetry (and my favorite part of the library to wander around picking random books off the shelves).
This poem-a-day series is strictly for personal use only; in almost all cases, I do not have poets’ nor poetry publishers’ permission to reproduce their work. For a more official poem-a-day email list, please visit the Academy of American Poets (poets.org), the creators and sponsors of National Poetry Month.
I do my best to preserve each poem’s format; however, please note that email clients tend to have minds of their own and may force a word onto the next line if a line is too long for your screen size.
And now for today’s poem, by a former poet laureate of Oregon Kim Stafford:
Happy National Poetry Month 2025! In celebration, I will be sending you one poem per day just for the month of April: 30 days, 30 poems, 30 poets.
For those of you new to the list: No prior poetry experience is required! I try my best not to send you some obtuse obscure long ode that’s impossible to understand. My selections do skew heavily, but not exclusively, to American poets writing in English — hence the name “Meet Me in 811,” the Dewey Decimal Code for American Poetry (and my favorite part of the library to wander around picking random books off the shelves).
This poem-a-day series is strictly for personal use only; in almost all cases, I do not have poets’ nor poetry publishers’ permission to reproduce their work. For a more official poem-a-day email list, please visit the Academy of American Poets (poets.org), the creators and sponsors of National Poetry Month.
I do my best to preserve each poem’s format; however, please note that email clients tend to have minds of their own and may force a word onto the next line if a line is too long for your screen size.
And now for today’s poem, by a former poet laureate of Oregon Kim Stafford:
Advice from a Raindrop
You think you’re too small
to make a difference? Tell me
about it. You think you’re
helpless, at the mercy of forces
beyond your control? Been there.
Think you’re doomed to disappear
just one small voice among millions?
That’s not weakness, trust me. That’s
your wild card, your trick, your
implement. They won’t see you coming
until you’re there, in their faces, shining,
festive, expendable, eternal. Sure you’re
small, just one small part of a storm that
changes everything. That’s how you win,
my friend, again and again and again.
■
You think you’re too small
to make a difference? Tell me
about it. You think you’re
helpless, at the mercy of forces
beyond your control? Been there.
Think you’re doomed to disappear
just one small voice among millions?
That’s not weakness, trust me. That’s
your wild card, your trick, your
implement. They won’t see you coming
until you’re there, in their faces, shining,
festive, expendable, eternal. Sure you’re
small, just one small part of a storm that
changes everything. That’s how you win,
my friend, again and again and again.
■
One thing I love about this poem is how the final “again and again and again” echoes a rhyming word “rain” and mimics the repetitive sound of it falling.
For those of you looking for a storm to join, Planned Parenthood and coalition partners are holding a huge rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow Wednesday April 2 to mark the oral arguments in the Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic case, which could allow states to block Medicaid patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood health centers. You can find more details here.
Thank you for celebrating poetry month with me!
— Ællen
For those of you looking for a storm to join, Planned Parenthood and coalition partners are holding a huge rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow Wednesday April 2 to mark the oral arguments in the Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic case, which could allow states to block Medicaid patients from accessing care at Planned Parenthood health centers. You can find more details here.
Thank you for celebrating poetry month with me!
— Ællen