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American Public Media

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.

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Today’s poem is The Crux by Megan Peak. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “There were times when mothering felt overwhelming. I’m so glad we got through the too-muchness to get to this place. Now, I always want more of them. It’s funny how that works, isn’t it? For years I craved more freedom, more independence, and then, when I got it, part of me missed being so needed.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1377: The Crux by Megan Peak

Today’s poem is Laura, I Want You Pulling Your Hair Back by Natalie Dunn. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “A big part of loving someone, whether they’re a friend or a family member or someone you’re romantically involved with, is embracing them exactly as they are. Not hoping they’ll change, or waiting for them to change, or—worst of all—trying to change them yourself.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1376: Laura, I Want You Pulling Your Hair Back by Natalie Dunn

Today’s poem is Dear Absent, by Marcus Wicker. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is so relatable, because the speaker is doing what I so often do: watching videos on the internet in the middle of the night. But then the poem turns to address “the elephant in the room”: the absence at the heart of the poem. A note of preparation: This poem will touch you deeply if you have experienced pregnancy loss.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1375: Dear Absent, by Marcus Wicker

Today’s poem is The Terror of New Love! by Tiana Clark. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. 

In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I got divorced, I remember the mixed feelings. A big part of me was devastated that we hadn’t made it work; another part of me was relieved, because it hadn’t been working. A part of me was terrified because I had no idea what the future held, and a different big part of me felt excited and free. I wrote in a poem once, “The trick of the future is it’s empty.” That’s where the excitement and terror come in: the future is empty, and we get to fill it. The future is unwritten, and we get to decide what the story will be. We get to choose what comes next.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1374: The Terror of New Love! by Tiana Clark

Today’s poem is Protection Spell Jar by Cynthia Marie Hoffman. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is from a collection of prose poems that chronicles a woman’s journey through obsessive-compulsive disorder, from childhood into adulthood. I admire the way we’re invited into the speaker’s consciousness, to see her mind at work.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1373: Protection Spell Jar by Cynthia Marie Hoffman

Today’s poem is My Body Knows its Limits by Page Hill Starzinger.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I know we often think of our intelligence as being related to our brains. Smart people are called “brainy.” Wise approaches to problem-solving are called “mindful.” But the body has its own intelligence. Some things we know, because we intuit them—as we say, we feel them in our gut. I sense when I’m in danger, or when someone is lying to me. I might get a prickle on the back of my neck, or a speeding up of my pulse, or an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I sense when I can trust someone, too. My nervous system relaxes around them.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1372: My Body Knows Its Limits by Page Hill Starzinger

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-repairing. Heart filling. Heart strengthening. I try to remind myself of that.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1371: At Last the New Arriving by Gabrielle Calvocoressi

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.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1370: Soot by Kaveh Akbar

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.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1369: Six Hours Lost, Land Between the Lakes by Kathleen Driskell

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://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1368: Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace

Today’s poem is End of December by Ashjan Hendi, translated by Moneera Al-Ghadeer. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We’re taking a break this week, so we’re sharing some of our favorite episodes from the archive. We’ll be back with new episodes on January 6, 2025. This episode was originally released on August 15, 2024. 

In this episode, Major writes… “Tests to long-term commitments are bound to happen. Expending too much affection can lead to exhaustion and the bruise of eventual disappointment. As today’s poem suggests, one of the secrets to a successful marriage is moderation and restraint.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

[encore] 1184: End of December by Ashjan Hendi, translated by Moneera Al-Ghadeer

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