Your Daily Poem

This site exists for one purpose only: to help dispel the ugly and absolutely untrue myth that poetry is boring. Granted, a lot of poetry is boring, but you won't find it here. At Your Daily Poem, you'll find poetry that is touching, funny, provocative, inspiring, uplifting, and surprising. It may punch you in the gut, it may bring tears to your eyes, it may make you laugh out loud, but it most assuredly will not bore you! Visit our home page every day to see a different poem.

Poetry on YDP—by poets living and long dead, famous to completely unknown--is specially selected for accessibility and appeal. Thanks so much for visiting—and remember: a poem a day keeps the doldrums away!

Meteorology
by
Erika Dreifus

For three weeks after the autumnal equinox
the sun still burns strong, the air still steams.
Global warming, we agree. At last comes the day
that dawns dull. Overcast. Walking to work,
or to lunch, we feel the wind nibble,
the atmosphere edge toward the eruption
that comes midafternoon. At five o’clock
the downpour soaks my shoes as I step
into the street on my way to my sister’s apartment.
Ten floors above First Avenue, my niece
has abandoned her perch before the television
and stands at the balcony door. Together,
we watch the rain pelt the ground and study
the charcoal sky. My niece presses four-year-old palms
against the glass. "Poor Sun," she says.

This poem first appeared in The Christian Science Monitor.
Used here with the author’s permission.

Photo by Jody Christopherson

Erika Dreifus lives in New York and maintains an online home at ErikaDreifus.com. She is the author of a poetry collection, Birthright, and a collection of short stories, Quiet Americans: Since 2004, Erika has produced The Practicing Writer, a free (and widely read!) e-newsletter for poets and writers of fiction and creative nonfiction.

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Lori Levy:
Beautiful.
Posted 10/17/2026 01:29 PM

Erika D.:
Thank you all for the kind comments!
Posted 10/18/2011 06:45 AM

jetty4me:
The simple truth of childhood is so appealing, so honest. Enjoyed this poem so much.
Posted 10/17/2011 01:39 PM

KevinArnold:
I love the unexpected jump to the clear-thinking mind of a four-year-old. Poor Sun indeed.
Posted 10/17/2011 07:38 AM

Kay Sanders:
You've mirrored Wisconsin almost exactly these post-autumnal-equinox days! And those last two lines--so astonishing, so poignant.
Posted 10/17/2011 07:13 AM

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