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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 What Is This Air Changing, This Warm Aura, These Threads of Air Vibrating Rows of People by Ariel Yelen. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Going to the elementary school choir concerts and winter music festivals, I got teary every time the kids sang. I told myself it was because of their sweet, little-kid voices, but that’s not the whole story. Something about hearing voices in unison—it’s powerful, and communal, and comforting, and deeply moving.”

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

1381: What Is This Air Changing, This Warm Aura, These Threads of Air Vibrating Rows of People by Ariel Yelen

Today’s poem is Like Apple from Seed by Molly Johnsen. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem begins with a beautiful story that the speaker’s father would tell her, and transforms as she becomes the family storyteller. Stories themselves are like seeds in our lives; so much can grow from them. There is so much potential waiting inside.”

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

1380: Like Apple from Seed by Molly Johnsen

Today’s poem is Arkansabop by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is as imagistic and musical as a song, and it’s deeply rooted in place. The poem borrows a refrain from a Lucinda Williams song.” 

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

1379: Arkansabop by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers

Today’s poem is poem where no one is deported by José Olivarez.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem recounts a story of women outsmarting immigration officials who raid their factory, thanks to ‘dios del chisme,’ meaning ‘the god of gossip.’ The poem repeats a Spanish phrase, ‘si dios quiere,’ meaning ‘God Willing.’” 

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

1378: poem where no one is deported by José Olivarez

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 A Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart by Pádraig Ó Tuama. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. 

In this episode, Major writes… “I think my group chats are the best group chats. We hit each other up every day, give verbal daps, check-in on family, share progress videos of workouts. We pass on new drafts of poems with no pressure to give feedback (but, of course, we do). Or we simply say, “Good morning.” When birthdays roll around, we make sure each feels the love. On our phones, we are royalty.” 

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

1283: A Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart by Pádraig Ó Tuama

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