The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Today’s poem is Return Path by Lesley Wheeler. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The multiple repetitions and the circular nature of the villanelle make it a good form for poems...

Today’s poem is Listening to Vespertine for Twenty Hours Straight by Derrick Austin. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “If you’re lucky, you have friends who might sense the shift...

Today’s poem is So Much Space for Song by James Crews. Sharing poetry is a two-way street. So today, you'll be hearing a poem selected by one of our listeners. Today’s selection was submitted by Rekha from Washington...

Today’s poem is Gratification to the survivors of daily damnations by Oladejo Abdullah Feranmi. Sharing poetry is a two-way street. So today, you'll be hearing a poem selected by one of our listeners. Today’s selection...

Today’s poem is Florida Doll Sonnet by Denise Duhamel and Maureen Seaton. Sharing poetry is a two-way street. So today, you'll be hearing a poem selected by one of our listeners. Today’s selection was submitted by J.D...

Today’s poem is Late Work by Andrés Cerpa. Sharing poetry is a two-way street. So today, you'll be hearing a poem selected by one of our listeners. Today’s selection was submitted by Meghan from Pennsylvania. The...

Today’s poem is All Trains Are Going Local by Timothy Liu. Sharing poetry is a two-way street. So today, you'll be hearing a poem selected by one of our listeners. Today’s selection was submitted by Prerna from Assam...

Today’s poem is Articulation of Solace by Yongyu Chen. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’ve read a lot of books over the years, and some have fundamentally changed not only the...

Today’s poem is Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Wherever you live, you don’t have to be nice. But please be kind. We need more genuine, altruistic...

Today’s poem is Nobody's Job by Ronna Bloom. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “We call an ending “resonant” because it does what a bell does: After it’s rung, the vibration...

Today’s poem is When you have to remind me to do the dishes by Isaac Pickell. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I think back to my own upbringing and what I learned from my...

Today’s poem is Mother Church No. 3 by Robin Coste Lewis. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “It’s incredible to me that less than two hours from my home in the Midwestern suburbs...

Today’s poem is Laurelhurst by David Biespiel. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem makes its many, intentional observations at the pace of a good, long walk.” This...

Today’s poem is The Interpretation of Dreams by Kate Farrell. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The grand adventures or scary disasters that happen in our sleep are most...

Today’s poem is Thirst Trap by Caleb Curtiss. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “People post seductive selfies for all kinds of reasons. They might want validation in the forms of...

Today’s poem is You're Supposed to Enjoy Dying by Colin Pope. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “There are so many things to fear — spiders, snakes, heights, deep water, the dark...

Today’s poem is Northern Flicker Reconsidered by Susan Rich. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Once, during a Q&A after a reading, a woman raised her hand to ask, ‘What’s with...

Today’s poem is Pocket Dial by James Davis May. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes... "It’s a strangely intimate thing, the pocket dial. When we’re on the receiving end, we find...

Today’s poem is Panis Angelicus by Carol Muske-Dukes. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… "There is music everywhere — played from the stereos of passing cars, sung by...

Today’s poem is Versions of Girlhood by Tina Chang. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… "Today’s poem makes me feel seen as a mother, and it also reminds me to stay present — to...

Today’s poem is What The Suitcase Bearing my Family Name Might Have Contained When it Arrived at Auschwitz by Ava Nathaniel Winter. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… "It is a...

Today’s poem is What We Wanted by Carol Moldaw. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… "Maybe humans have muscle and sense memory not unlike my dog on her walk around the block. We...

Today’s poem is Poem to Watch over You by Omotara James. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Diannely Antigua writes… “On Juneteenth, freedom feels like a welcome long denied. It is...

Today’s poem is Boombox Ode: Enjoy the Silence by K. Iver. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Diannely Antigua writes… “There was a time when love, or the possibility of it, came to...

Today’s poem is Pluto by Maggie Dietz. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Diannely Antigua writes… “When I was younger, I learned the order of the planets through a sentence I’ll never...