Homecoming by Kara Dobias | One Poem Only

One Poem Only · Apr 15, 2026 · 2m

One Poem Only is a daily poetry podcast offering a quiet moment with a single poem—read aloud, without analysis or noise.

Homecoming

Kara Dobias

The world wants to be kind, I think.

But too often, we are warned of its dangers

before we can meet its light.

I learned to live in the shadow

of others’ fear and felt it manifest

as my own,

self-censoring the softest

parts of me out of safety,

but I’m becoming something new.

I don’t want to be good so much as brave.

To make the agreement to be disagreeable

when it counts.

If I am to be beholden to anything,

let it be

truth,

so that I may stand as a…