Changes to The Daily Poem in 2025

“Sonnet: I Thank Thee”
by Henry Timrod

I thank you, kind and best beloved friend,
With the same thanks one murmurs to a sister,
When, for some gentle favor, he hath kissed her,
Less for the gifts than for the love you send,
Less for the flowers, than what the flowers convey;
If I, indeed, divine their meaning truly,
And not unto myself ascribe, unduly,
Things which you neither meant nor wished to say,
Oh! tell me, is the hope then all misplaced?
And am I flattered by my own affection?
But in your beauteous gift, methought I traced
Something above a short-lived predilection,
And which, for that I know no dearer name,
I designate as love, without love’s flame.

Since August of 2018, we have put out nearly 1,000 episodes of The Daily Poem. That would not have seemed a worthwhile endeavor without the thousands of faithful listeners who have made The Daily Poem part of their weekly routines, and it would not have been possible without the generous, voluntary support of so many of the same. The first order of business, then, is to tell you all THANK YOU.

The show is now entering a new phase of life. In podcast-years, The Daily Poem is more or less in its teens, and while teenagers get more interesting, they also get more expensive. To keep up with the cost of producing the show and to ensure the adequate compensation of every tireless soul involved, we are moving to a paid-subscription model wherein some content will now require a subscription and some will remain free.

While some episodes of The Daily Poem will now be exclusive to paying subscribers, it was important to us to keep most of each week’s episodes freely available to everyone so that The Daily Poem could continue to be an accessible resource and low-intensity doorway into the appreciation of great poetry. Going forward, everyone can still to listen to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday’s episodes without a subscription, while Tuesday and Thursday’s poems will become subscriber-only content.

In addition to Tuesday and Thursday’s poems, subscribers will begin to enjoy a few new features as well. The first is a monthly poetry newsletter that will include an eclectic mix of poetry-related content including book reviews, poetry recommendations, poet profiles, and more. The second is a monthly live poetry hour–in collaboration with the Close Reads podcast–in which subscribers are invited to take part in a live discussion of a selected poem each month (audio recordings of the discussion will be posted afterward for those who cannot attend).

To sum up: anyone and everyone will continue to enjoy a new episode of The Daily Poem each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while paid-subscribers will now also enjoy

• Tuesday & Thursday poems,

• a monthly poetry newsletter,

• and a live poetry discussion every month.

We hope this new model will preserve what is already great about The Daily Poem and provide us with the resources to increase the caliber of our offerings going forward. Thank you again for your continued support and, as always, happy reading!

(Nota bene: Subscribers who prefer to use a different podcast app (rather than Substack) may need to take some extra steps to hear Tuesday/Thursday episodes or other future bonus episodes. This easy-to-follow guide will walk you through the process.)