The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Today’s poem is At Last the New Arriving by Gabrielle Calvocoressi.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I don’t know what might happen tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. I can’t know! That can be a source of stress, but it can also be a source of hope and excitement. The future is full of possibility. Some of life’s surprises are heartbreaking, yes—but some are heart-repairi...

Today’s poem is Soot by Kaveh Akbar.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “My friend, the poet Dana Levin, once said that my poems are “God Curious,” and I loved that description. Part of what I do in my poems is pose existential questions to myself, and think—and feel—my way into them. That’s not the same as answering them! Luckily, poems don’t require us to have answers.”

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Today’s poem is Six Hours Lost, Land Between the Lakes by Kathleen Driskell.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem tells a story about a tense encounter in the woods. I so admire how this poet unfolds the narrative, then leaves me sighing deeply at the end.”

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Today’s poem is Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The next time I’m asked if writing is therapy, I may just respond by reading today’s poem. I think it answers the question with succinct, heartbreaking beauty.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https...

Today’s poem is Nostalgia by Matthew Minicucci.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I joke that I can be nostalgic about a moment while it’s happening. That might be the writer in me: part of me is in the moment, and part of me is already thinking about it from a distance, and seeking the language to write about it.”

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Today’s poem is Hiking Moraine State Park by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem speaks to me because, at its heart, is a deep curiosity about the world—a desire to know more and more. It recognizes that sometimes we can use technology to be more connected to nature, not more disconnected from it.”

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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 treasures with each reading,...

Today’s poem is For You Who Have Loved Old Dogs by Silas House.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “My Boston terrier, Phoebe, is about to turn eleven, so if she were a human, she’d be a 77 year old woman. If Phoebe were one of the Golden Girls, she’d probably be Rose: quirky, loyal, a little dim-witted. We adopted her from a Boston terrier rescue organization when she was one an...

Today’s poem is Earth, Sometimes I Try to Play It Casual, by Catherine Pierce. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, Maggie writes… “I have zero chill when it comes to the natural world. My son and daughter would probably tell you I’m like a little kid: I gasp audibly at the clouds, the moon, the light coming through the leaves of trees. I shout “hawk!” when I see one on a walk or in the car. I tak...

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 difference: https://t...

Today’s poem is Lotioning My Mother’s Back by Ama Codjoe.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The world feels like a hard place right now—a not very soft and tender place. In times that feel difficult, it’s tempting to retreat, to harden ourselves, to “numb out.” But I think, more and more, that tenderness is what we need—toward one another, and toward ourselves. We need touch. W...

Today’s poem is Parts of a Body House by Erika Meitner.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “It struck me recently how much technology has changed our relationships with our bodies. There are devices that tell us how well (or poorly) we slept the night before, how many steps we took in a given day, what our heart rate is when we work out. We have access to more data about our phys...

Today’s poem is Country Night by Laura Newbern. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem touched me because it made me think of my grandmother. It made me think of her care, but also about the life she had after her marriage ended. I know her life didn’t look the way she’d expected it would. I wish it had been easier. Still, she could whistle like a songbird.” Celebrate the po...

Today’s poem is The Song of Songs of Songs of Songs by Jeremy Radin. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is one of my favorite kinds of poems—a list. And not any list, but a list of similes. This poet builds bridge after bridge, line after line. Don’t worry—I won’t give you homework, but maybe, just maybe, after listening to this poem, you’ll be inspired to make a list of...

Today’s poem is Rancho Bar by Margot Kahn. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem looks, tenderly, at two siblings attempting to close the distance between them. The poem is made even more poignant by the fact that its setting, a bar in California, has since burned down in a wildfire.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a dif...

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 be thinking about at the end of my life: my...

Today’s poem is Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem invites us to look at ourselves at this moment of extreme, ongoing gun violence in America. And to think about our own responses, time after time after time.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.co...