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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...

1397: Palinode by Lisa Low

5 mins; November 17, 2025

1396: Panama by Sarah Green

6 mins; November 14, 2025

1395: The Night Angler by Geffrey Davis

6 mins; November 13, 2025

1394: Puerto Rico Goes Dark by Juan J. Morales

6 mins; November 12, 2025

1393: The Night Where You No Longer Live by Meghan O’Rourke

5 mins; November 11, 2025

1392: Local Mission by Kai Carlson-Wee

6 mins; November 10, 2025

1391: Never-ending Birds by David Baker

6 mins; November 07, 2025

1390: The Poem Climbs the Scaffold and Tells You What It Sees by Natasha Oladokun

5 mins; November 06, 2025

1389: Sehnsucht by Michael Dumanis

6 mins; November 05, 2025

1388: When I learn Catastrophically by Martha Silano

6 mins; November 04, 2025

1387: Different Kinds of Sadness by Jenny Molberg

5 mins; November 03, 2025

1386: Night of the Living, Night of the Dead by Kim Addonizio

6 mins; October 31, 2025

1385: At Night by Stanley Plumly

5 mins; October 30, 2025

1384: I do not mention the war in my birthplace to my six-year-old son but somehow his body knows by Julia Kolchinsky

5 mins; October 29, 2025

1383: The Situation in Our City by Ciona Rouse

5 mins; October 28, 2025

1382: Lamb by Richie Hofmann

4 mins; October 27, 2025

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

6 mins; October 24, 2025

1380: Like Apple from Seed by Molly Johnsen

5 mins; October 23, 2025

1379: Arkansabop by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers

5 mins; October 22, 2025

1378: poem where no one is deported by José Olivarez

5 mins; October 21, 2025

1377: The Crux by Megan Peak

5 mins; October 20, 2025

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

5 mins; October 17, 2025

1375: Dear Absent, by Marcus Wicker

5 mins; October 16, 2025

1374: The Terror of New Love! by Tiana Clark

6 mins; October 15, 2025

1373: Protection Spell Jar by Cynthia Marie Hoffman

5 mins; October 14, 2025

1372: My Body Knows Its Limits by Page Hill Starzinger

5 mins; October 13, 2025

1371: At Last the New Arriving by Gabrielle Calvocoressi

6 mins; October 10, 2025

1370: Soot by Kaveh Akbar

5 mins; October 09, 2025

1369: Six Hours Lost, Land Between the Lakes by Kathleen Driskell

5 mins; October 08, 2025

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

5 mins; October 07, 2025

1367: Abundance by Rick Barot

6 mins; October 06, 2025

1366: Nostalgia by Matthew Minicucci

5 mins; October 03, 2025

1365: Noise Cancelling by Devon Walker-Figueroa

6 mins; October 02, 2025

1364: Hiking Moraine State Park by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza

5 mins; October 01, 2025

1363: Notes on Beachgrass by Yong-Yu Huang

6 mins; September 30, 2025

1362: For You Who Have Loved Old Dogs by Silas House

5 mins; September 29, 2025

1361: Earth, Sometimes I Try to Play It Casual, by Catherine Pierce

5 mins; September 26, 2025

1360: Wind, Blue Sky by Susan Aizenberg

6 mins; September 25, 2025

1359: Lotioning My Mother’s Back by Ama Codjoe

5 mins; September 24, 2025

1358: Parts of a Body House by Erika Meitner

5 mins; September 23, 2025

1357: Country Night by Laura Newbern

5 mins; September 22, 2025

1356: The Song of Songs of Songs of Songs by Jeremy Radin

6 mins; September 19, 2025

1355: Rancho Bar by Margot Kahn

5 mins; September 18, 2025

1354: Checkout by Caroline Bird

5 mins; September 17, 2025

1353: Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones

6 mins; September 16, 2025

1352: Blue by Jodie Hollander

6 mins; September 15, 2025

1351: The Happy Middle by Hedgie Choi

6 mins; September 12, 2025

1350: Real Estate by Richard Siken

5 mins; September 11, 2025

1349: Sati by Vandana Khanna

6 mins; September 10, 2025

1348: Valentine for Ernest Mann by Naomi Shihab Nye

5 mins; September 09, 2025

1347: Animal Prudence by Kathy Fagan

5 mins; September 08, 2025

1346: The Difficult Countryside by John Gallaher

6 mins; September 05, 2025

1345: Arrangements by Adrienne Chung

5 mins; September 04, 2025

1344: Cento Between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward-Rich

5 mins; September 03, 2025

1343: /’mīgrent/ by Tiana Nobile

6 mins; September 02, 2025

1342: And Then It Was Less Bleak Because We Said So by Wendy Xu

5 mins; September 01, 2025

1341: Lake by Noah Falck

6 mins; August 29, 2025

1340: From the Sky by Sara Abou Rashed

6 mins; August 28, 2025

1339: Wind-Related Ripple in the Wheatfield by Mikko Harvey

5 mins; August 27, 2025

1338: Are you bringing fruits, plants, seeds, by Karen Llagas

6 mins; August 26, 2025

1337: New York Address by Linda Gregg

5 mins; August 25, 2025

1336: I Find Myself Defending Pigeons by Keith S. Wilson

6 mins; August 22, 2025

1335: Bonfire Opera by Danusha Laméris

5 mins; August 21, 2025

1334: Étude by Amy Gerstler

5 mins; August 20, 2025

1333: Crossing the Line by E. Ethelbert Miller

5 mins; August 19, 2025

1332: Tea by Leila Chatti

6 mins; August 18, 2025

[encore] 784: Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds

5 mins; August 15, 2025

[encore] 768: Lately I Am Trying by Sanna Wani

5 mins; August 14, 2025

[encore] 520: I Worry My Mother Will Die and I Will Know Nothing by Asa Drake

5 mins; August 13, 2025

[encore] 792: Trash by Joshua Bennett

5 mins; August 12, 2025

[encore] 688: [since feeling is first] by E.E. Cummings

5 mins; August 11, 2025

[encore] 264: Sleeping with the Chihuahua by Tami Haaland

5 mins; August 08, 2025

[encore] 351: Fish Heads by R.A. Villanueva

5 mins; August 07, 2025

[encore] 278: Thanks by W.S. Merwin

5 mins; August 06, 2025

Maggie Smith is the New Host of The Slowdown

2 mins; August 05, 2025

[encore] 237: Workshop by Jacob Shores-Argüello

5 mins; August 04, 2025

[encore] 961: Nocturne by Oliver Baez Bendorf

6 mins; August 01, 2025

[encore] 1107: Accessory to War by Kim Stafford

6 mins; July 31, 2025

[encore] 1156: In Love by Chloe Martinez

6 mins; July 30, 2025

[encore] 1094: 00000000 by Erin Marie Lynch

7 mins; July 29, 2025

[encore] 1005: eco-hood by Melania Luisa Marte

5 mins; July 28, 2025

[encore] 624: Sunflowers in the Median

6 mins; July 25, 2025

[encore] 526: Saudade

5 mins; July 24, 2025

[encore] 645: It’s 9:30am, I’ve ran four miles, cried four times, & eaten two chicken sandwiches

5 mins; July 23, 2025

[encore] 510: Let Me

5 mins; July 22, 2025

[encore] 788: John Muir, A Dream, A Waterfall, A Mountain Ash

5 mins; July 21, 2025

[encore] 382: Another Night at Sea Level by Meg Day

6 mins; July 18, 2025

[encore] 442: Climbing China's Great Wall by Afaa M. Weaver

5 mins; July 17, 2025

[encore] 454: On a Spaceship Somewhere, Long After Empire's Collapse by Jesús I. Valles

5 mins; July 16, 2025

[encore] 470: Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry by Jericho Brown

5 mins; July 15, 2025

[encore] 393: Song In Which We Yet Sidestep Disaster by Tess Taylor

5 mins; July 14, 2025

[encore] 1175: Hunger by Kelli Russell Agodon

6 mins; July 11, 2025

[encore] 1174: Separation Wall by Naomi Shihab Nye

7 mins; July 10, 2025

[encore] 1173: Sono by Suji Kwock Kim

6 mins; July 09, 2025

[encore] 1172: From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee

6 mins; July 08, 2025

[encore] 1171: One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

6 mins; July 07, 2025

[encore] 664: Prayer Beginning with a Line by Czaykowski by Pablo Piñero Stillmann

5 mins; July 04, 2025

[encore] 677: Practicing by Ciona Rouse

5 mins; July 03, 2025

[encore] 541: Little Grey Dreams by Angelina Weld Grimké

4 mins; July 02, 2025

[encore] 617: Places With Terrible Wi-Fi by J. Estanislao Lopez

5 mins; July 01, 2025

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The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

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