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American Public Media

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 from the to-do list, as you resist the dismal, endless scroll to share five minutes of perspective through the lens of poetry, from poets old and new, well-loved and emerging onto the scene. Brought to you by American Public Media, in partnership with the Poetry Foundation.

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Today’s poem is Ledge (ars poetica) (love poem) (true story) by Amorak Huey. 

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem calls itself an ars poetica, a love poem, and a true story. That’s a lot of work for one poem to do—a lot of layers of meaning! But this poet does speak to the precarity of it all: writing, and loving, and living.“ 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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

Today’s poem is Laura, I Want You Pulling Your Hair Back by Natalie Dunn.

The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes. Today’s episode was originally released on October 17, 2025. 

In this episode, Maggie writes… A big part of loving someone, whether they’re a friend or a family member or someone you’re romantically involved with, is embracing them exactly as they are. Not hoping they’ll change, or waiting for them to change, or—worst of all—trying to change them yourself.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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

Today’s poem is /’mīgrent/ by Tiana Nobile.

The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes. Today’s episode was originally released on September 2, 2025. 

In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem looks at the word migrant and its meaning apart from the current political climate. Movement from place to place, after all, suggests possibility, opportunity, and AGENCY. To migrate, whether you can fly or not, is to be free.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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

Today’s poem is Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace.

The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes.

Today’s episode was originally released on October 7, 2025. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The next time I’m asked if writing is therapy, I may just respond by reading today’s poem. I think it answers the question with succinct, heartbreaking beauty.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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

Today’s poem is Tea by Leila Chatti.

The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes. 

Today’s episode was originally released on August 18, 2025. 

In this episode, Maggie writes… “Maybe the ultimate self care is learning to give yourself the respect, the tenderness, and the grace you extend to others. To love yourself the way you love others.”

[encore] 1332: Tea by Leila Chatti

Today’s poem is Hiking Moraine State Park by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza. 

The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes. Today’s episode was originally released on October 1, 2025. 

In this episode, Maggie writes… “A big part of loving someone, whether they’re a friend or a family member or someone you’re romantically involved with, is embracing them exactly as they are. Not hoping they’ll change, or waiting for them to change, or—worst of all—trying to change them yourself.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1364: Hiking Moraine State Park by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza

Today’s poem is Amalgam by Rebecca Foust.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I have a hard time not using metaphors and analogies in everyday conversation. My kids sometimes tease me about it: “Look out, the poet has entered the chat!” my son recently laughed. Maybe it is a poet thing, but I think we all naturally use analogies and comparisons when we’re trying to explain an experience. Even children do this, because the power of metaphor and analogy — of comparison — is that it helps people understand what you mean. It just clicks.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1411: Amalgam by Rebecca Foust

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 with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1410: Go by Kathleen Ossip

Today’s poem is Sal, 1950 by Paula Colangelo.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem explores PTSD as experienced by a POW, or prisoner of war. I admire this poem for the way it speaks to the resilience of the human spirit. I sometimes find myself in awe of what humans can survive, and what trauma survivors can keep intact inside themselves, and what they can still find joy in.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1409: Sal, 1950 by Paula Colangelo

Today’s poem is Noah's Nameless Wife Takes Inventory by C.T. Salazar.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “In many of the stories I grew up with, the men are named but their wives and daughters are not. That makes it pretty clear who the main characters are, doesn’t it? For example, in the story of Noah’s Ark, in the book of Genesis in the Christian bible, there are four wives on the ark—the wives of Noah and his three sons. Guess which characters aren’t named? That’s right—the wives. Noah’s wife is identified as just that: Noah’s wife.” 

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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

Today’s poem is At the Base of the Mountain by Amanda Hawkins.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’m not a religious person, but I think everyone has places that are sacred to them—places we might return to as pilgrims, as seekers. I think of how people visit the graves of their ancestors, or the places where they once lived. When we stand where our loved ones once stood, it does feel special and meaningful to be in that space, on that ground.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1407: At the Base of the Mountain by Amanda Hawkins

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