Under 25 Poetry USA –

"Happy Birthday Daniel (Rage...)" by Susannah Abel-Zucker

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Cover photo shows the front of City Lights Booksellers in San Francisco.
	In the foreground, a cyclist rides down the road in front of the bookstore.

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January 15th, 2026

Under 25 Poetry USA Contest #1 – First Place

Happy Birthday Daniel (Rage Against the Iambic Nature of the English Language)

by Susannah Abel-Zucker

I eat what I have squandered, nothing more.
Knocking soft on ancient doors.
Mundanity sits next to me,
Singing children's songs.
I long.

In idle chatter, we have built a tomb.
Strange scents fill familiar rooms.
Similitude, an interlude,
From the lapses wide.
We tried.

A candle shines in half-dark summer night.
Blow the wishes like dust mites.
How glad we are to get this far,
Everything is loud.
They're proud.

A scene only a poet could envision.
Literary long division.
In some mind's eye – perhaps it's mine –
Rick Abel walks the Yard.
With stars.


About the Poet
Susannah Abel-Zucker resides in Northamption, Massachusetts, United States.
Read the poet's biography and Under 25 Poetry publications on Susannah Abel-Zucker's Artist Page.

Under 25 Poetry Collection
This poem is also featured in Under 25 Poetry Collection #1, published in the Under 25 Poetry Library.

Keywords: birthdays, summer, poetic life

Previously published in Under 25 Poetry USA:
"The Cavity"
by Anna Yowler

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