"Only Child" by Adam Clay

[View this email on a browser]( [Forward to a friend]( [facebook-icon]( [tumblr-icon]( [twitter-icon]( September 20, 2019 [Only Child]( [Adam Clay]( Breakfast rained on again, and I’m lifted up the stairs on the breath of what the dark of the day might promise in its perfect silence. The light in my daughter’s room has been on all night like every night, but the sun shifting changes the shape of the space from a square into an unfolding universe. I had always imagined a different type of fatherhood before fatherhood found me, but if you asked me to describe it now, I don’t think I could find the words. Try to find a way to describe living a few different ways at once. For a while I imagined there would be more attempts at trying out what I’m still trying to see in the room that’s gone power out, but the weeds in the yard grow too quickly to be left alone for long. I had forgotten the strangeness of a humid February. I had forgotten all that makes up the memories that need me to exist. It was easier to carve out a place before I had words to describe it. Now looking back feels like looking forward. I am drawing a self-portrait and trying to remove the self. [Like this on Facebook]( [Share via Twitter]( Copyright © 2019 Adam Clay. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 20, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. ["Only Child" by Adam Clay]( About This Poem “I tend to overthink things a bit, and this poem was born from many early mornings meditating on parenthood and all it contains: the joy and wonder, the missteps and mistakes. In the end, the poem offers another option to the dark directive of [Larkin](’s ‘This Be the Verse.’ I don’t always know what I’m doing, but I hope I’m doing the best I can.” —Adam Clay Adam Clay’s most recent collection is Stranger (Milkweed Editions, 2016). He teaches at the University of Southern Mississippi and lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. [more-at-poets]( Poetry by Clay [Stranger]( (Milkweed Editions, 2016) "Home is so Sad" by Philip Larkin [read-more]( "Moon for Our Daughters" by Annie Finch [read-more]( "Parents" by William Meredith [read-more]( September Guest Editor: Eduardo C. Corral Thanks to [Eduardo C. Corral](, author of Guillotine, forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2020, who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read a [Q&A with Corral]( about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our [guest editors for the year.]( Your Support Makes Poem-a-Day Possible Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today’s poets each weekday morning. This free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on the weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. [make a one-time donation]( [illustration]( [Small-Blue-RGB-poets.org-Logo]( Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit [Poets.org](. You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click [here](. © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038