| Author: | Donald Hall |
| Title Orig: | The One Day |
| Published: | Mariner Books |
| Media Type: | |
| Pages: | 80 |
| Awards: | National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry (1988) |
| Isbn: | 0899198163 |
The One Day by Donald Hall is a book-length poem.
The book is composed of three parts--"Shrubs Burnt Away," "Four Classic Texts" and "To Build a House", employing a 10-line stanza with variable line length in an experimental form. It centers on mid-life anxiety, using phrases like "a preparation of death." It is not completely dark and despairing, as it focuses on how to make a life worth living, instructing readers to: "Work, love, build a house, and die. But build a house."