The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Today’s poem is How to Dress a Star by Nicholas Goodly. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem reminds me to feel tenderness toward the earlier versions of me. It reminds me that we should acknowledge our past selves more. Just think of what earlier versions of you were able to endure. Bless them for that.” We’re asking you, our community of listene...

Today’s poem is You Reading This, Be Ready by William Stafford. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “We spend so much money in this country on things we think will make us happier and more fulfilled, but presence isn’t a thing at all — it’s an action inside us. Being present costs us nothing. It requires no special equipment. No special location. We can all do...

Today’s poem is Queen of Collapse by Hadara Bar-Nadav. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Repeating the same word or phrase when we write opens something up, forces us to finish the thought in a new way each time. I always surprise myself. With each repetition of the phrase, the sentence goes in a slightly new direction.” This show is supported by gifts from...

Today’s poem is The Beginning by Katherine Gibbel. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I have the worst spring fever every year, because the winters in Ohio are so long and so bleak and gray. When the landscape comes alive and turns green again, I’m nearly drunk with joy. I’m in noticing heaven: ‘Look at the buds on the trees!’ and ‘Breathe in that green smel...

Today’s poem is Cloud Hands by Arthur Sze. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem shows us that tai chi is not only meditation in motion, but also metaphor in motion.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is On My History of Kissing Everyone At Parties by Isabelle Correa. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem was introduced to me by a friend of mine, the playwright and director Moisés Kaufman. If you’ve seen or read The Laramie Project or Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, you know his work. Moisés read this poem to me re...

Today’s poem is at the baggage claim in JFK by Lo Naylor. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I’m preparing for a multi-city book tour, I’m not nervous about reading in front of people or answering questions or finding my way around a strange place. I’m nervous about getting where I’m going. And with somewhat regular government shutdowns impacting TSA th...

Today’s poem is You believed only a girl born of dandelion can be ferocious by Purvi Shah. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Poems are meant to live in the air, to be read aloud, but I also know that form follows function. I want to see the choices the poet made when crafting the piece. Is the poem in couplets, tercets, or sturdy quatrains? Is it in one unb...

Today’s poem is Spring in War-Time by Sara Teasdale. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’m sure you’ve also seen the news stories, or at least social media takes, theorizing on the potential for a military draft. I have a son, and surely many of you listening have sons, too. “Operation Epic Fury” is what I feel, as a mother, when I think about men like Trum...

Today’s poem is Twenty Questions by Jayrold Trasporte. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is full of questions but doesn’t circle on a single, winning answer. Instead, it finds possibility — and poetry — in the spaces between yes and no.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the s...

Today’s poem is Intaglio by Emma Aylor. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When we hear the word “print’ in regards to a painting, we might think of a copy or duplicate — in other words, not the real thing. There’s Gustav Klimt’s famous painting “The Kiss,” worth millions of dollars, and then there are poster prints of the original, which anyone can buy and...

Today’s poem is Love Song to the Alpacas of Solomon Lane by Kenzie Allen. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I have a soft spot for poems that center animals, and there are many such poems. I’m thinking about the horse in James Wright’s famous poem, “A Blessing.” I’m thinking about the poor dead goat in Brigit Pegeen Kelly’s poem “Song,” which might just be...

Today’s poem is Pathway by Paula Bohince. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “What if we saw turning to community not as a sign of weakness, but as a sign of wealth — an acknowledgement that we are so rich with support, so rich with friendship. And beyond that, I think of community as being broader than just people. Isn’t place part of community? The creature...

Today’s poem is Graduation by Edgar Kunz. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem reminds me that even when distance is necessary — or imposed — love and memory are tethers that are elastic. They stretch to accommodate separation. And if we’re lucky, they stretch as needed but don’t snap.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The S...

Today’s poem is Stadium by Heather Tone. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Meditation on death awareness, called maranasati, is one of the oldest practices in all Buddhist traditions. It may seem morbid to make a practice from contemplating your own death while you’re still alive, but the idea of your death is probably affecting the way you live.” This show...

Today’s poem is Community by Emily Bright. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I want our house to be a place where anyone can be themselves and know they are with people who care about them, people they can trust. I want my friends and my kids’ friends to feel safe and comfortable, to relax and have fun, and to leave feeling ready to face the world outside,...

Today’s poem is The plum you're going to eat next summer by Gayle Brandeis. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I know optimism can be a tough sell when there’s so much suffering, so much difficulty, in the world. But this brokenness is exactly why we need more poems, more paintings, more films, more plays. More art. To make things that don’t exist yet — and...

Today’s poem is Smalltown Lift by Brian Blanchfield. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “One of the most challenging things about being in a relationship, especially a new one, is communication. I’ve certainly been guilty of doing what some of you listening have probably done, too: not saying how I feel, not asking for what I want, not being clear in my commu...

Today’s poem is Sonnet Overheard at Phone Booth by Elane Kim. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The sonnet has survived multiple centuries by always adapting. In a contemporary sonnet, poets are altering its shape and rethinking what the container can hold. Women in particular have transformed the formal tradition of the sonnet in America — poets like Wanda...

Today’s poem is Anniversary by Edward Salem. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Cemeteries are peaceful, reverent places, and yet they’re places I don’t visit regularly — not unless I’m birding, apparently. If I want to feel close to someone I’ve lost, I’m more likely to look at photos, or tell stories, or listen to songs that remind me of them. And yes, I’m...

Today’s poem is The Problem With Early Warnings by Charles Rafferty. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “You’ve probably heard the boiling frog theory. It goes like this: If a frog is dropped into a pot of tepid water that is slowly heated, the creature won’t perceive the danger until it’s too late — when the water is finally boiling, and it’s cooked to death...

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 straightforward: February is often the snowiest month. After reading this quiet stunner of a poem, I was inspired to turn on one of m...

Today’s poem is Scheduling the Bone Scan by Katie Farris. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I know our hearing involves sound waves and the structures of the ear, but I wouldn’t have been able to explain it in depth or draw you a diagram. So I did a little research, and as I suspected, there is plenty of poetry — by which I mean music and mystery — in the s...

Today’s poem is Crossing by C. Rees. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem carries us to the Delaware River, cold and dark in winter, and also a place that feels both beautiful and haunted.” 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 How to Write by Anne Waldman. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Consciousness is just … exhausting sometimes, isn’t it? There’s no “power down” mode for our minds like there is for the devices we use: laptops and phones and televisions. Being a human is sort of like having 24/7 screentime, but the screen is your own mind, and there’s no real...