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Poem-a-day

Daniel’s Response to Jet, or Why Do You Trust Her?

Written in Daniel’s voice, when asked why he trusts Heca and the unborn baby with special powers

Who would believe we both framed and hung Bearden’s “Jammin’ at the Savoy” on our separate walls long before we even met?? The mostly primary colors exploding as jazz men work carbon fingers to the bone, frenzied beyond language and no one looks up, no conductor needed, because they’re wrapped in the kind of duende Lorca speaks of—an avalanche of quarters and eighths that coalesce into a groove we both comprehend (since maybe she’s the trumpet and I’m the piano, or maybe she’s the guitar strings and I’m the trumpet sending notes back up into the sky hoping Gabriel will hear), but either way the sun-like orb gleams down and considering we both believed in this stronger than the balm of psalms said on our wedding day, I’ll keep my faith in her, in us, and in Bearden’s cobalt steady bluein’.

Copyright © 2026 by Celeste Doaks. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 14, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets. 

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celeste doaks

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Photo credit: Da’Rrell Privott
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About Poem-a-Day

Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 250 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each year. Dorianne Laux is the Guest Editor for April. Read or listen to a Q&A with Laux about his curatorial process, and learn more about the 2026 Guest Editors. Support Poem-a-Day.  

If you have any questions about Poem-a-Day, visit our Poem-a-Day FAQ.

Previous Poems

Title Author Date
Lion Tina Chang 03/30/2022
Farnaz Farnaz Fatemi 03/29/2022
My Local Dead Mark Wunderlich 03/28/2022
The Spring Has Many Silences Laura Riding Jackson 03/27/2022
At the Spring Dawn Angelina Weld Grimké 03/26/2022
Divorce Song Jameson Fitzpatrick 03/25/2022
Ghosts Dana Jaye Cadman 03/24/2022
In Safranbolu Monica Ferrell 03/23/2022
Black Lead in a Nancy Meyers Film Rio Cortez 03/22/2022
The Pact Victoria Redel 03/21/2022

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