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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.
699 Episodes
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Today’s poem is by R.A. Villanueva. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is one about parents and children, bedtime fears, and the ways we communicate love and safety. It references a lyric from a song I love: ‘Not Strong Enough’ by the band boygenius.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Today’s poem is On Proliferation by Cass Donish. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “As a poet, I think one of my personal stages of grief is writing. When I experience deep loss, there is a part of me that needs to try to articulate that loss. I wouldn’t say that writing about loss is healing; writing doesn’t restore who or what’s been lost. There are distances we can’t cross, things we can’t fully understand. But we try, with language. And there is honor in the trying.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Today’s poem is Ledge (ars poetica) (love poem) (true story) by Amorak Huey. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem calls itself an ars poetica, a love poem, and a true story. That’s a lot of work for one poem to do—a lot of layers of meaning! But this poet does speak to the precarity of it all: writing, and loving, and living.“ Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
![[encore] 1376: Laura, I Want You Pulling Your Hair Back by Natalie Dunn](https://s3.castbox.fm/19/91/4b/948d6d5a467475e3f99778343fdaa4fcd2_scaled_v1_400.jpg "[encore] 1376: Laura, I Want You Pulling Your Hair Back by Natalie Dunn")
Today’s poem is Laura, I Want You Pulling Your Hair Back by Natalie Dunn.The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes. Today’s episode was originally released on October 17, 2025. 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
![[encore] 1343: /’mīgrent/ by Tiana Nobile](https://s3.castbox.fm/2a/f7/c5/12470023ac37d9873269f31ac507de8cf6_scaled_v1_400.jpg "[encore] 1343: /’mīgrent/ by Tiana Nobile")
Today’s poem is /’mīgrent/ by Tiana Nobile.The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes. Today’s episode was originally released on September 2, 2025. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem looks at the word migrant and its meaning apart from the current political climate. Movement from place to place, after all, suggests possibility, opportunity, and AGENCY. To migrate, whether you can fly or not, is to be free.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
![[encore] 1368: Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace](https://s3.castbox.fm/16/ae/91/6b082bb54235085668b4f55231633b002a_scaled_v1_400.jpg "[encore] 1368: Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace")
1Today’s poem is Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace.The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes.Today’s episode was originally released on October 7, 2025. 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
![[encore] 1332: Tea by Leila Chatti](https://s3.castbox.fm/0e/d8/7f/b59115d0896cfbc0aba374ff29e7cb8960_scaled_v1_400.jpg "[encore] 1332: Tea by Leila Chatti")
Today’s poem is Tea by Leila Chatti.The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes. Today’s episode was originally released on August 18, 2025. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Maybe the ultimate self care is learning to give yourself the respect, the tenderness, and the grace you extend to others. To love yourself the way you love others.”
Today’s poem is Hiking Moraine State Park by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza. The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes. Today’s episode was originally released on October 1, 2025. 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
Today’s poem is Amalgam by Rebecca Foust.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I have a hard time not using metaphors and analogies in everyday conversation. My kids sometimes tease me about it: “Look out, the poet has entered the chat!” my son recently laughed. Maybe it is a poet thing, but I think we all naturally use analogies and comparisons when we’re trying to explain an experience. Even children do this, because the power of metaphor and analogy — of comparison — is that it helps people understand what you mean. It just clicks.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Today’s poem is Go by Kathleen Ossip.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Other poems are like strands of pearls, long and lustrous and nearly impossible to gather into your hands all at once.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Today’s poem is Sal, 1950 by Paula Colangelo.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem explores PTSD as experienced by a POW, or prisoner of war. I admire this poem for the way it speaks to the resilience of the human spirit. I sometimes find myself in awe of what humans can survive, and what trauma survivors can keep intact inside themselves, and what they can still find joy in.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Today’s poem is Noah's Nameless Wife Takes Inventory by C.T. Salazar.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “In many of the stories I grew up with, the men are named but their wives and daughters are not. That makes it pretty clear who the main characters are, doesn’t it? For example, in the story of Noah’s Ark, in the book of Genesis in the Christian bible, there are four wives on the ark—the wives of Noah and his three sons. Guess which characters aren’t named? That’s right—the wives. Noah’s wife is identified as just that: Noah’s wife.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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United States
Absolutely perfect poem for US election day!
major is never wrong, but I think he might have missed the mark a bit on this one. I perceive this poem to be about consent
I've heard that woman and been that woman
Amazing poem, so raw and vivid. A splitting and spiralling many of us are familiar with.
Part of my morning routine. Thank you for your time and passion.
Yay first to comment! I use this podcast for a quick little meditation after my morning workout. it's fantastic.