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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 At the Base of the Mountain by Amanda Hawkins.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’m not a religious person, but I think everyone has places that are sacred to them—places we might return to as pilgrims, as seekers. I think of how people visit the graves of their ancestors, or the places where they once lived. When we stand where our loved ones once stood, it does feel special and meaningful to be in that space, on that ground.”

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

1407: At the Base of the Mountain by Amanda Hawkins

Today’s poem is Paperweight by Ryan Teitman. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem charmed me immediately with its imagination and its restraint. It’s a poem that makes me ask, “What if?” It’s also a poem I want to read again as soon as I finish it.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1406: Paperweight by Ryan Teitman

Today’s poem is Entry by Chet'la Sebree.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “It's human nature to want to know for oneself, not only to trust in the knowledge of others. It’s human nature to want to make decisions for oneself, not only to trust in the decisions of others. It’s human nature to want to see for oneself, firsthand, not mediated by others.” 

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

1405: Entry by Chet'la Sebree

Today’s poem is Before Lunar New Year, Our Mothers Go Missing by Uyen Phuong Dang.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem references the Lunar New Year, which happens in February, but it’s a timeless, seasonless poem. It has me thinking about the relationship between mothers and daughters, and between one generation and the next.”

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

1404: Before Lunar New Year, Our Mothers Go Missing by Uyen Phuong Dang

Today’s poem is Echo by Pura López-Colomé, translated by Forrest Gander. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I also think that all literature is translation, in a sense. We are taking what is in our minds and translating that into language—and that’s true in any language. I think there is always a gap between what we want to express and what we can articulate with words. Language can only say so much.” 

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

1403: Echo by Pura López-Colomé, translated by Forrest Gander

Today’s poem is Gloria Mundi by Michael Kleber-Diggs. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I have sort of an odd confession: I have a funeral playlist—a list of songs I want played at whatever my memorial service turns out to be. Occasionally I add to it, and now and then I remove songs once they’ve lost their shine. My kids have laughed about this—“Mom, you’re so dark”—but I don’t find it morbid at all, really. I think of my funeral as the last party I’ll ever throw, and I’ll be there—in spirit, at least. (How’s that for a mom joke?)” 

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

1402: Gloria Mundi by Michael Kleber-Diggs

Today’s poem is LeaveTaking by Rita Dove. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem dreams its way into an imagined scenario: finding oneself on this planet, an alien, a stranger, and doing one’s best to be seen as belonging, so as to stay.” 

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

1401: LeaveTaking by Rita Dove

Today’s poem is The Eulogy I Didn’t Give (I) by Bob Hicok.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes … “I’m here, and you’re here, so I’d call us “poetry people.” But even people who don’t think of themselves as “poetry people,” people who don’t spend time with poetry each day, do turn to poems when they’re grieving or celebrating: at weddings, funerals, and other occasions that call for something more than we’re able to achieve with our own words. Grief, love, longing, gratitude—these are universal human emotions, and yet they are difficult to articulate! More than any genre, perhaps, poetry can help us say the unsayable. It helps to let poets take the reins.” 

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

1400: The Eulogy I Didn’t Give (I) by Bob Hicok

Today’s poem is Alarm Clock by Jennifer Maier.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes … “When I travel away from my kids, I have to coordinate our calls, which means demystifying the difference between my time and their time. “I’m three hours behind you in California” or “I’m seven hours ahead of you in Greece.” All of this talk about “my time” and “your time” is so odd, anyway, when you think about it—as if any time is ours. That’s ours, O-U-R-S. No pun intended.”

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

1399: Alarm Clock by Jennifer Maier

Today’s poem is A dead whale can feed an entire ecosystem by Rachel Dillon.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “To ask, “What can a poem do to help?” is to gesture toward a bigger question: “What can art do?” What can literature, or music, or film, or performance, or visual art do for us, particularly when we are struggling, individually and collectively? I think art can articulate the beauty and horrors of being alive. I think it can make people feel seen and understood, and therefore less alone. I think it can bear witness to what our planet is enduring.” 

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

1404: Before Lunar New Year, Our Mothers Go Missing by Uyen Phuong Dang

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