The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
Poet Major Jackson is your guide on the pathways to feel and understand our common journey – through poetry. In sharing poems, we take a moment to pause and acknowledge the world’s magnitude, and how poets illuminate that mystery. Join The Slowdown for a poem and a moment of reflection in one short episode, every weekday. Produced by APM Studios in partnership with The Poetry Foundation and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. Make us a part of your routine as you drink coffee in the morning, as you take a walk in nature, or as you wind down to go to sleep in the evening. With host Major Jackson, we collectively take a moment to calm, to inspire, to learn, and to engage with the best emerging poets and established writers of our time and generations past, from Emily Dickinson to Danez Smith, from Amanda Gorman to Mary Oliver. Listen to our back catalog for episodes by our previous hosts, Tracy K. Smith and Ada Limón, as well as guest hosts Jenny Xie, Brenda Shaughnessy, Tina Chang, Nate Marshall, Shira Erlichiman, and Jason Schneiderman. Our hosts and production team select poems that move them, and we hope they move you, too.
Episodes
Today’s poem is To be of use by Marge Piercy.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on September 2, 2020.
In this episode, Tracy writes… “I am alive in 21st Century America. I have a voice. Let it serve as a corrective to the violen...
Today’s poem is The Book of Genesis by Morgan Parker.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on June 10, 2020.
In this episode, Tracy writes…”Today's poem is by Morgan Parker. Parker's poems fill me with joy for the ways they ponder ...
Today’s poem is Stop Looking At My Last Name Like That by Michael Torres.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on May 19, 2020.
In this episode, Tracy writes… “Rationally speaking, I know that another person’s bigoted thinking is t...
Today’s poem is Telephone of the Wind by Eddie Kim.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on August 12, 2020.
In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today’s poem takes me back to the time when telephones and the distances they allowed us to...
Today’s poem is Moon Pull by Carlina Duan.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on May 5, 2020.
In this episode, Tracy writes… “I love the way today's poem lays claim to the moon and all it represents.”
Celebrate the power of p...
Today’s poem is Flesh (“You in your ecstasy of coffee”) by Deborah Landau.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major Jackson’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on May 5 2023. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.
In this episode, Major writes… “When summer arrives, I run as fast as ...
Today’s poem is Black Book of Creation by Shanta Lee Gander.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major Jackson’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on April 25 2024.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem builds on the belief that imagining ...
Today we’re bringing you the recording from Slow Take, our live event in Nashville this past April, featuring Major Jackson in conversation with Jad Abumrad and special guest poets Kate Daniels, Mark Jarman, Ciona Rouse and Didi Jackson, as well as singer-songwriter Tia Sillers.
Our hosts and guests employed the attention of The Slowdown to explore the daily noise we interact with -- how sharing poetry, stories, and r...
Today’s poem is Us by Zaffar Kunial.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major Jackson’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on September 27 2023. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.
In this episode, Major writes… “Since moving to the quaint village of Rochester, I come to expect vis...
Today’s poem is from "The Crystal Text" by Clark Coolidge.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major Jackson’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on July 2 2024. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.
In this episode, Major writes… “Poetry negotiates that space between our inner life a...
Today’s poem is I Would Do Anything For Love, But I Won't by Traci Brimhall.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on May 27 2022.
In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “I am often laughing with my husband about our own idiosync...
Today’s poem is anti-immigration by Evie Shockley.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on October 26 2021.
In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “In today’s complex poem, we see what hateful stereotypes might do. Poet Evie Sh...
Today’s poem is Last Sundays at Bootleggers by Carlos Andrés Gómez.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on May 17 2022.
In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “Sometimes when I am nostalgic for my past, I’m not actually nostalg...
Today’s poem is In Response to Feeling Alone by t. liem.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on October 5 2021.
In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “I spend a lot of time alone during the days. Though the dog would like to ...
Today’s poem is Sligo Abbey by Rebecca Lindenberg.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on February 3 2022.
In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “In today’s gorgeous poem of honoring, we see how the speaker transforms the sto...
Today’s poem is Tracing the Horse by Diana Marie Delgado.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on April 29, 2020.
In this episode, Tracy writes… “I turn to words constantly—to help me clarify a thought, to dig deeper into an idea,...
Today’s poem is The Feeling by Ari Banias.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on August 27, 2020.
In this episode, Tracy writes… “We are living through what I want to believe is an awakening. Many people who have never given an ...
Today’s poem is Telling My Father by James Crews.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on October 19, 2020.
In this episode, Tracy writes… “Sometimes love looks like small things. Gentle gestures rich with import. We give such thi...
Today’s poem is Portrait of the Alcoholic with Withdrawal by Kaveh Akbar.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on December 6, 2018.
In this episode, Tracy writes, “One day I was a drinker; the next, I was an ex-drinker. A braver p...
Today’s poem is Listen, by Barbara Crooker.
The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on October 19, 2020.
In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today’s poem offers up a message of calm and gratitude. It's one I want to learn to offer myself...
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