The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Today’s poem is Dialogue on Violence by Jayne Cortez. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “If you’re listening to this episode first thing in the morning or as you go to sleep, looking for something easeful, I should apologize. Today’s poem is not that. It is a grim litany. But I think by naming our harsh reality, it holds out hope for a diffe...

Today’s poem is Missed Time by Ha Jin. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “I love to journal as documentation. To remember what happened in my day-to-day, even the small things I see and feel. I can thus make my own life real to myself. This is something I’ve worked out over time. When I look back at my first blue notebook, the recollections...

Today’s poem is Are You Not Tired Yet? by Mohammed al-Khatib. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “Though under ceasefire at the time of this recording, Gazans are still living in unimaginably difficult conditions, largely uprooted from their homes and experiencing limited access to resources and information. There has been a massive loss of h...

Today’s poem is Visitor's Center by T Bambrick. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “Today’s poem takes me back to a specificity of a Washington State public school education: learning the intricacies of salmon, sturgeon, dams, ecology, and electricity. What I didn’t see then, that I see now, is the tension between control and appreciation of...

We’re bringing you a preview of the new series from the podcast, Death of An Artist. In February 2024, celebrated children’s book author and illustrator Petra Mathers and her husband, photographer Michael Mathers, mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Petra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they choose...

Today’s poem is Stop Thinking & End Your Problems by Elisa Gabbert. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “So often my mind feels crowded. Busy. Like a rush hour intersection of internal monologue. I’ve tried lots of strategies. I’m still trying new strategies. Blocking out focus time, tweaking notifications, using restrictions. My favorite...

Today’s poem is Story of My Life by Jameson Fitzpatrick. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “Today’s poem shows us how our desires are about both projection and possession.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is Rain by Jennifer Grotz. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “Loss of possibility is one of the greatest heartbreaks we can face. But today’s poem knows the bittersweet secret: that our memories of the possible are ours to keep.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. Slowdown...

Today’s poem is Lover of Cars by Olivia Sokolowski. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “I keep today’s poem taped on my wall. I thought it spoke to me because it connects my father’s love of cars to my own love of poetry. But I realized, in writing this, that what it does on a craft level is what knocks me off my feet every time.” This show i...

Today’s poem is Portrait of the Speaker Riding a Greyhound Bus by Eduardo Martinez-Leyva. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “In the seemingly endless spring of 2020, my roommate and I briefly decamped Los Angeles and holed up with her family in Southern Oregon. The town was already quiet during the best of times; that spring, it was even qui...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This encore episode was originally released on April 3, 2026. Today’s poem is from Perihelion: A History of Touch by Franny Choi. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is about the snow moon, the first full moon of February. The explanation behind the name “snow moon” is fairly s...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This encore episode was originally released on January 20, 2026. Today’s poem is The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem addresses a child—a child full of questions about the world. It reminds me that as parents, we don’t need to have the answers,...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This encore episode was originally released on September 18, 2026. Today’s poem is Rancho Bar by Margot Kahn. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem looks, tenderly, at two siblings attempting to close the distance between them. The poem is made even more poignant by the fact that...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This encore episode was originally released on August 28, 2025. Today’s poem is From the Sky by Sara Abou Rashed. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I think about ways to foster empathy, perspective, and care, one of those ways is poetry. I know poetry can’t stop bombs from falling, a...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This encore episode was originally released on February 25, 2026. Today’s poem is Somewhere Else by Adam J. Gellings. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I was born at 4:30 in the afternoon on a cold Sunday in February. All of this is either useless information — time of day, day of the wee...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. Today’s encore episode was originally released on February 27, 2026. Today’s poem is Poem about everything except— by Amy Lemmon. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I was drawn to today’s poem from the get-go because of its title: ”Poem about everything except—.” I went in anticipating max...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. Today’s encore episode was originally released on March 30, 2026. Today’s poem is XII. Southern Constellations by Brandon Kilbourne. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “No matter where I am in the world, no matter what beautiful landscape I might find myself in, no matter what new experienc...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. Today’s encore episode was originally released on December 4, 2025. 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...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. Today’s encore episode was originally released on November 3, 2025. Today’s poem is Different Kinds of Sadness by Jenny Molberg. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I lost my joy, my generous friends were there. It can be so hard to accept help from others, especially if you pride your...

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. Today’s encore episode was originally released on March 4, 2026. Today’s poem is Pardon My Heart by Marcus Jackson. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “If I had a different kind of heart, a tougher heart, would I be able to see what’s happening in the world around me and not feel so brokenh...

Today’s poem is What I Am Telling You, Jessica, Is That Those Chickens Are Fine by K.T. Landon. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Several of our neighbors have backyard coops, and occasionally we’re offered fresh eggs. Unfortunately, the raccoons and possums (and maybe even a fox) have encountered the chickens, too. There are fewer now.” This show is suppor...

Today’s poem is ode to the afternoon by Zeina Hashem Beck. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “‘Que Sera Sera’ is a song I remember my mother singing when I was small. Which is fitting, as the song opens with these words: ‘When I was just a little girl I asked my mother what will I be.’ I remember part of the chorus well: ‘Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, wil...

Today’s poem is Black Fairy Tale by Elizabeth Spires. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I was old enough, I found my way to the collected Brothers Grimm, but even then I wasn’t quite old enough for the violence I found inside. Cinderella’s sisters butchered their own feet to try to fit into the glass slipper! That bloody plot detail certainly wasn’t in...

Today’s poem is Dialogue with the Oldest Tree in the U.S., whose Location is a Closely-Guarded Forest Service Secret by Nina Sudhakar. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I like to think that I’m still growing as a person. That every year I become older, I truly grow older, developing some new part of myself. Conversations about aging so often dwell on preser...

Today’s poem is Summer Strawberries by Cat Wei. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “We move through life with so many doors opening and closing all around us. One of the gifts and burdens of being human is being aware of time, and impermanence, and our own mortality. That awareness keeps us grateful for what we have, but it can also make us fearful to lose wh...