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The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily — Arts
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 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.

Copyright: © Copyright 2026 Minnesota Public Radio

Latest Episodes:

1601: Girls Overheard While Assembling a Puzzle by Mary Szybist Nov 12, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Girls Overheard While Assembling a Puzzle by Mary Szybist.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem eavesdrops on two girls playing together, and I find the dialogue between them so charming.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

1600: The Thing Is by Ellen Bass Nov 11, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is The Thing Is by Ellen Bass.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is one that I seek out, and one that I’m always glad to come across in the wild.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

1599: Heading Out to Sea by José A. Alcántara Nov 10, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Heading Out to Sea by José A. Alcántara.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The truth is, all bodies are imperfect. But today’s poem reminds me, importantly, that this body is the only one I have. There’s no “spare,” no back up, no alternative. When I think of it that way, it’s impossible not to be grateful.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

1598: Advice to a Monolith by Talley V. Kayser Nov 09, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Advice to a Monolith by Talley V. Kayser.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Landscape is psychological. It impacts how we feel, how we see ourselves, how we understand our experience. When you change the landscape, you change everything!”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

1597: On Children by Kahlil Gibran Nov 06, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is On Children by Kahlil Gibran.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’ve always believed my son and daughter came through me, not to me, like I’m the door they used to enter the world. In this way, I feel like they’ve been loaned to me, and my job is to be a steward and a guide while they’re young. Today’s poem articulates that better than I can here, and I think that’s what we turn to poems for: to tell us the truth, and to tell it beautifully.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

1596: Hares by Angela Ball Nov 05, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Hares by Angela Ball.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Sometimes I read or listen to a poem, and I’m absolutely charmed — seduced — by the sentences: the way they move across the lines, like a river moving around a bend, breaking around stones. Sometimes I marvel at the word choices, at the sounds, at the way a narrative unfolds.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

1595: My Shark by Ellie Black Nov 04, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is My Shark by Ellie Black.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Writing is a process of discovery. When I’m working on a poem or an essay, I don’t know what I might find, and that sense of discovery doesn’t end when the piece is finished and published.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

1594: The Grass Could Be Yours by Emily Lee Luan Nov 03, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is The Grass Could Be Yours by Emily Lee Luan.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Feeling at home somewhere new is surreal. Surreal and comfortable. Freeing, in a way. I’m not where the memories of my life took place, but because of the landscape, and the people, my senses feel at home. And so my memories seem to be at home, too.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

1593: Halloween in the Anthropocene by Karyna McGlynn Nov 02, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Halloween in the Anthropocene by Karyna McGlynn.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Now that we’re past Halloween, I can admit that I’m not much of a Halloween person. It was fun when I was little, trick-or-treating with my friends, because, hey, free candy! And it was fun for me as a mother of young children. The speaker of today’s poem celebrates Halloween the way I do now: as an observer, outside of it all.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

1386: [encore] Night of the Living, Night of the Dead by Kim Addonizio Oct 30, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Night of the Living, Night of the Dead by Kim Addonizio.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “It might surprise you to know that one of my favorite genres is the zombie movie. I like my zombies fast, like in ‘Train to Busan’ and ‘28 Days Later,’ and I like my zombies slow, like in the old classics directed by George Romero. In ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ the zombies shamble so slowly, people can run right by them. They seem unable to figure out doorknobs and fence latches and cars. It’s black-and-white, so the gore isn’t that gory: the blood and guts are gray, after all! It’s still scary, though—because the zombies are seemingly uncontainable. They just keep coming at you. Today’s poem has been a favorite of mine for years, and it seemed like the right choice for Halloween.”

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

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