A Worm Moon In March 2025
Welcome to A Worm Moon, a poetry newsletter where I, Phoenix Yemi, share what I've been reading and writing through the month.
It’s been a while. I hope you’ve been well, and that this new year has been kind to you. It feels right to begin again with this month. March’s full moon—the Worm Moon—inspired the name of this newsletter; the earthworms emerging to mark the arrival of spring, much like myself and, I believe, many others, turn to poetry in search of light.
1
This poem began during a walk in the evening around the Barbican. We were a group of women and non-binary people reflecting on our experiences of the city at night, thinking about how we could make it safer. The workshop was led by the poet Belinda Zhawi, and we read this beautiful poem called ‘Walking at Night’, by Louise Glück. The imagery of the moon as one bright stone among many others has stayed with me.
2
A poem by Marie Howe. It’s from her most recent collection of new and selected poems, ‘What the Earth Seemed to Say’. The last lines of the poem, a meditation on the power of language, of memory, that unlike the meadow, which blooms instinctively, to move forward is a choice.
3
Worms at the Barbican, March 23rd. A beautiful day. I was invited to read my piece from Worms 8, ‘The Elements Issue’. I’m wrestling with desire, fire, and survival—what we inherit, what we refuse, and how we can become something freer, able to create new worlds. I extended the poem for the reading, and I’ll share those verses with you below.
4
Two poems by Kim Addonizio from her earlier poetry collections ‘Tell Me’. The description says ‘poems of loneliness and late nights, liquor and loss’, and with her words, there’s an urgency that feels familiar, an ache, a violent kind of hunger.
5
I talk to God and pray for kindness, that this year love will outweigh grief, that strength can be found in softness, in vulnerability, and that it is worth it to hope. I want to arrive at tenderness.
P.S
A Haiku (for you) by Sonia Sanchez, from ‘Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums: Poems
Thank you for reading. I hope you've liked the poetry.
What poems have you been reading this month?
If you feel like sharing, please send them my way. You can email me at phoenixyemi@gmail.com or you can find me on Instagram @phoenixyemoja
💌 With Love, Phoenix 💌
