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The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

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...

1486: from Perihelion: A History of Touch by Franny Choi

5 mins; April 03, 2026

1485: Scheduling the Bone Scan by Katie Farris

6 mins; April 02, 2026

1484: Crossing by C. Rees

6 mins; April 01, 2026

1483: How to Write by Anne Waldman

5 mins; March 31, 2026

1482: XII. Southern Constellations by Brandon Kilbourne

5 mins; March 30, 2026

[encore] 1381: What Is This Air Changing, This Warm Aura, These Threads of Air Vibrating Rows of People by Ariel Yelen

6 mins; March 27, 2026

[encore] 1460: Poem to Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly

5 mins; March 26, 2026

[encore] 1429: Midlife Crisis by Jane Zwart

5 mins; March 25, 2026

[encore] 1383: The Situation in Our City by Ciona Rouse

5 mins; March 24, 2026

[encore] 1444: Congratulations! Your Grief Is About to Stop Being Relevant! by Bridget Bell

5 mins; March 23, 2026

1481: from Mosaic by Supritha Rajan

6 mins; March 20, 2026

1480: Reverse Requiem by Ina Cariño

7 mins; March 19, 2026

1479: After Dinner by James Ciano

5 mins; March 18, 2026

1478: If Night You Were a City by Adam Wiedewitsch

6 mins; March 17, 2026

1477: Surety by Anna Zumbahlen

6 mins; March 16, 2026

1476: The Quiet World by Jeffrey McDaniel

6 mins; March 13, 2026

1475: Out of These Wounds, the Moon Will Rise by Jay Hopler

5 mins; March 12, 2026

1474: Epistemic Distance by Emma Bolden

6 mins; March 11, 2026

1473: Solar Eclipse by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

6 mins; March 10, 2026

1472: The Road to Baghdad by Seth Brady Tucker

6 mins; March 09, 2026

1471: It Was Like This: You Were Happy by Jane Hirshfield

6 mins; March 06, 2026

1470: Common Denominators by Cynthia Arrieu-King

6 mins; March 05, 2026

1469: Pardon My Heart by Marcus Jackson

5 mins; March 04, 2026

1468: Five Paragraph Essay on Time by Kathleen Flenniken

5 mins; March 03, 2026

1467: Geranium by Karen Solie

5 mins; March 02, 2026

1466: Poem about everything except— by Amy Lemmon

6 mins; February 27, 2026

1465: Or am I a room with a roof taken off, still holding onto my idea of ceiling by Kelly Hoffer

6 mins; February 26, 2026

1464: Somewhere Else by Adam J. Gellings

5 mins; February 25, 2026

1463: Sleep by Matthew Dickman

6 mins; February 24, 2026

1462: Perspective, Coyoacán by Corey Van Landingham

6 mins; February 23, 2026

1461: Word for It by Kevin Craft

6 mins; February 20, 2026

1460: Poem to Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly

5 mins; February 19, 2026

1459: February by Jim Moore

5 mins; February 18, 2026

1458: on projection by Raena Shirali

6 mins; February 17, 2026

1457: an excerpt from THERE IS ONLY ONE GHOST IN THE WORLD by Sophie Klahr and Corey Zeller

5 mins; February 16, 2026

1456: Rubicon by Carl Phillips

6 mins; February 13, 2026

1455: Historical Site by Tommye Blount

5 mins; February 12, 2026

1454: Katherine with the Lazy Eye. Short. And Not a Good Poet by francine j. harris

5 mins; February 11, 2026

1453: Closing Time; Iskandariya by Brigit Pegeen Kelly

5 mins; February 10, 2026

1452: A Backstory Beyond My Recounting by Paulann Petersen

4 mins; February 09, 2026

1451: Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich

6 mins; February 06, 2026

1450: Home by Warsan Shire

6 mins; February 05, 2026

1449: Nightline: September 20, 1982 by June Jordan

4 mins; February 04, 2026

1448: Orchestra by Russell Brakefield

5 mins; February 03, 2026

1447: Gratitude by Cornelius Eady

8 mins; February 02, 2026

1446: Mistake by Heather Christle

6 mins; January 30, 2026

1445: Hackberry by Cecily Parks

6 mins; January 29, 2026

1444: Congratulations! Your Grief Is About to Stop Being Relevant! by Bridget Bell

5 mins; January 28, 2026

1443: Come Back! by Camille Guthrie

6 mins; January 27, 2026

1442: Apocatastasis by G.C. Waldrep

5 mins; January 26, 2026

1441: Birthday Wish by David Groff

6 mins; January 23, 2026

1440: New Year by Kate Baer

5 mins; January 22, 2026

1439: I Have Lost It by Monica Ferrell

5 mins; January 21, 2026

1438: The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer

6 mins; January 20, 2026

1437: Now that we’ve been married all these years, by Keetje Kuipers

5 mins; January 19, 2026

1436: Vacation by Sara Moore Wagner

6 mins; January 16, 2026

1435: ars poetica, 2019 by Airea D. Matthews

5 mins; January 15, 2026

1434: Waiting for the Call I Am by Wyatt Townley

5 mins; January 14, 2026

1433: Given to Rust by Vievee Francis

6 mins; January 13, 2026

1432: The Good Guy by Blas Falconer

5 mins; January 12, 2026

1431: Going Home by Joan Kwon Glass

6 mins; January 09, 2026

1430: Earth Shovel by Dan Albergotti

6 mins; January 08, 2026

1429: Midlife Crisis by Jane Zwart

5 mins; January 07, 2026

1428: In Defense of “Candelabra with Heads” by Nicole Sealey

6 mins; January 06, 2026

1427: A toast to something beautiful flapping in the wind by J. Hope Stein

5 mins; January 05, 2026

1426: One-Way Gate by Jenny George

6 mins; January 02, 2026

1425: The Ship by Bianca Stone

5 mins; January 01, 2026

1424: White Hot Star by W. Todd Kaneko

5 mins; December 31, 2025

1423: Puzzle by Randall Mann

6 mins; December 30, 2025

1422: Dear Delinquent by Ann Townsend

5 mins; December 29, 2025

1421: My 1994 by Stephanie Burt

5 mins; December 26, 2025

1420: Losing the Band by Ashley D. Escobar

5 mins; December 25, 2025

1419: Ladies' Arm Wrestling Match at the Blue Moon Diner by Jenny Johnson

5 mins; December 24, 2025

1418: Whitetail in the Rain Moving About by Melissa Ginsburg

5 mins; December 23, 2025

1417: My Mother's Love by James Allen Hall

6 mins; December 22, 2025

Bonus Episode: Maggie Smith on This Old House Radio Hour

7 mins; December 20, 2025

1416: Nursery by Kiki Petrosino

6 mins; December 19, 2025

1415: Elephants Born Without Tusks by Alison C. Rollins

7 mins; December 18, 2025

1414: This dark is the same dark as when you close by R.A. Villanueva

5 mins; December 17, 2025

1413: On Proliferation by Cass Donish

6 mins; December 16, 2025

1412: Ledge (ars poetica) (love poem) (true story) by Amorak Huey

5 mins; December 15, 2025

[encore] 1376: Laura, I Want You Pulling Your Hair Back by Natalie Dunn

5 mins; December 12, 2025

[encore] 1343: /’mīgrent/ by Tiana Nobile

6 mins; December 11, 2025

[encore] 1368: Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace

5 mins; December 10, 2025

[encore] 1332: Tea by Leila Chatti

6 mins; December 09, 2025

1364: Hiking Moraine State Park by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza

5 mins; December 08, 2025

1411: Amalgam by Rebecca Foust

6 mins; December 05, 2025

1410: Go by Kathleen Ossip

6 mins; December 04, 2025

1409: Sal, 1950 by Paula Colangelo

5 mins; December 03, 2025

1408: Noah's Nameless Wife Takes Inventory by C.T. Salazar

6 mins; December 02, 2025

1407: At the Base of the Mountain by Amanda Hawkins

6 mins; December 01, 2025

1406: Paperweight by Ryan Teitman

6 mins; November 28, 2025

1405: Entry by Chet'la Sebree

6 mins; November 27, 2025

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

5 mins; November 26, 2025

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

6 mins; November 25, 2025

1402: Gloria Mundi by Michael Kleber-Diggs

5 mins; November 24, 2025

1401: LeaveTaking by Rita Dove

7 mins; November 21, 2025

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

5 mins; November 20, 2025

1399: Alarm Clock by Jennifer Maier

5 mins; November 19, 2025

1398: A dead whale can feed an entire ecosystem by Rachel Dillon

5 mins; November 18, 2025

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The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

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