The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
Host Maggie Smith is your daily poetry companion. Poetry is one of the greatest tools we have to wield our own attention — to consider our own lives and the lives of others, to help us live creatively and compassionately, to use that attention to lean into wonder, and joy, and truth, and to find hope — to keep hoping. The Slowdown community knows that reflecting on a poem, every weekday, can connect us to our inner world and the world around us. Listen as you make your morning coffee, as you go on a walk in your neighborhood, as you pull away from the to-do list, as you resist the dismal, endless scroll to share five minutes of perspective through the lens of poetry, from poets old and new, well-loved and emerging onto the scene. Brought to you by American Public Media, in partnership with the Poetry Foundation.
Episodes
Today’s poem is Halloween in the Anthropocene by Karyna McGlynn.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Now that we’re past Halloween, I can admit that I’m not much of a Halloween person. It was fun when I was little, trick-or-treating with my friends, because, hey, free candy! And it was fun for me as a mother of young children. The speaker of today’s poe...
Today’s poem is Night of the Living, Night of the Dead by Kim Addonizio.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “It might surprise you to know that one of my favorite genres is the zombie movie. I like my zombies fast, like in ‘Train to Busan’ and ‘28 Days Later,’ and I like my zombies slow, like in the old classics directed by George Romero. In &lsquo...
Today’s poem is Notes on Beachgrass by Yong-Yu Huang.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem offers us images we often find in poetry: the ocean, the moon, dreams, a mother, a wound. But it offers us these elements in such a profoundly original and moving way. I couldn’t read this poem just once—I had to read it several times, picking up new t...
Today’s poem is Wind, Blue Sky by Susan Aizenberg.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem speaks to the challenge of staying in the present moment, and having gratitude for that moment, when memory is always doing what it does best: calling to us from afar.”
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a d...
Today’s poem is Checkout by Caroline Bird.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’m willing to bet that no one on their death bed says, “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.” No one, taking stock of their life in those final days and moments, is thinking about spreadsheets or profits or ROI - Return on Investment. I can imagine what I’ll...
Today’s poem is Blue by Jodie Hollander.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem speaks to how we all see the world—and our lives—with completely unique eyes. With a vision colored by our own experiences.”
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Today’s poem is The Happy Middle by Hedgie Choi.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem walloped me with its authentic intelligence. Even in her grief, this poem’s speaker envisions her situation from a different perspective. This poem imagines so artfully, I think you’ll want to revisit it a second time, and then a third. That is the power of...
Today’s poem is Real Estate by Richard Siken.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem unpacks some of what happens when families change, because of death or divorce or other upheavals. I admire the way it looks not only at the variables—what must necessarily change—but also at the constants.”
This show is supported by gifts from liste...
Today’s poem is Sati by Vandana Khanna.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is a persona poem from the point of view of a Hindu goddess, Sati. The practice of a widow throwing herself on her husband’s funeral pyre is named after Sati, who, in this poem, gets to speak. I think you’ll be moved by what she has to say.”
This show is s...
Today’s poem is Arrangements by Adrienne Chung.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem speaks to the things we are drawn to, and to the compromises that must happen when we share space with others, and when there just isn’t room for everything.”
This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. Slow...
Today’s poem is Cento Between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward-Rich.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “In times that feel divisive and fragmented, today’s poem is a reminder of what we can do and BE together. It’s a reminder of the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.”
This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The...
Today’s poem is Holes by Eileen Myles, with special guest Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff.
Alynda Segarra is a singer-songwriter and frontperson of the band Hurray for the Riff Raff. Their music is genre-bending, drawing from punk, indie, and Americana roots.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Alynda shares… “Memories are the way we integrate that which we've lost into our liv...
Today’s poem is Holes by Eileen Myles, with special guest Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff.
Alynda Segarra is a singer-songwriter and frontperson of the band Hurray for the Riff Raff. Their music is genre-bending, drawing from punk, indie, and Americana roots.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Alynda shares… “It was through art that I saw many different examples of people who...
Today’s poem is And Then It Was Less Bleak Because We Said So by Wendy Xu.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When the world is on fire, it can feel frivolous to go dancing, to go to concerts, to host parties, to take vacations. Today’s poem so beautifully addresses the importance of holding onto joy—and onto one another—when the world feels dismal.&rd...
Today’s poem is Wind-Related Ripple in the Wheatfield by Mikko Harvey.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Who might I have been—or with whom, or where—if the timing had been different? Did I arrive too late to certain parts of my life, or too early? Or am I right on time? The “Choose Your Own Adventure” aspect of life is something on my mind a lo...
Today’s poem is Are you bringing fruits, plants, seeds, by Karen Llagas.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem looks at the anxiety and the absurdity of America: How many people seem fixated on the dangers outside our borders without acknowledging the dangers within.”
This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a d...
Today’s poem is They/Them by Danez Smith, with special guest R.K. Russell.
R.K. Russell is an NFL legend, writer, and social justice advocate who made history by becoming the first out active NFL player to identify as bisexual.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, R.K. shares… “Oftentimes we see writing as a reflection of society, when really writing is where we bend society. It's whe...
Today’s poem is They/Them by Danez Smith, with special guest R.K. Russell.
R.K. Russell is an NFL legend, writer, and social justice advocate who made history by becoming the first out active NFL player to identify as bisexual.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, R.K. shares… “When you start to want to live authentically as yourself, there are also sacrifices that must be made. A lot...
Today’s poem is New York Address by Linda Gregg.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this encore episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem captures that feeling when you’ve just had it — you’ve absolutely hit your limit. But at the same time, you realize that you’re the only person who can pick yourself back up. You have to keep yourself going.”
This show is suppor...
Today’s poem is Bonfire Opera by Danusha Laméris.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this encore episode, Maggie writes… “Yes, I have new lines around my eyes and new glints of silver in my hair, but my body continues to surprise me in wonderful ways, too. It brings me a lot of pleasure—maybe even more pleasure than it did when I was in my teens, twenties, and even thirties. Because I apprecia...
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