The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

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1462: Perspective, Coyoacán by Corey Van Landingham Feb 23, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Perspective, Coyoacán by Corey Van Landingham.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is an ekphrastic poem, a poem inspired by a piece of art. It opens with an epigraph that is a quote by Frida Kahlo. It strikes me now, reading that line of hers, that while she’s talking about painting herself, it can also refer to writing about oneself.”

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

1461: Word for It by Kevin Craft Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Word for It by Kevin Craft. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The planet we call home is full of miracles, and we don’t have to look hard to find them. Today’s poem is about paying attention to the beauty around us, and to the life around us, even if we don’t fully understand it. Especially if we don’t fully understand it.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1460: Poem to Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly Feb 19, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Poem to Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is such a beautiful meditation on knowing ourselves, and knowing what we need to be at home in our own lives.”

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

1459: February by Jim Moore Feb 18, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is February by Jim Moore. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Despite February being my birth month, it is easily my least favorite month of the year. The winter weather in the Midwest is brutal. By mid-January, the twinkling lights and holiday cheer that make December bearable are gone. By February, I’m over it.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1458: on projection by Raena Shirali Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is on projection by Raena Shirali. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “One of the things I love about poetry—one of the things I look forward to, and revel in, as a reader and listener—is the way a poet can make the familiar strange. A familiar landscape, thanks to poetic language, can be transformed into something unfamiliar.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1457: an excerpt from THERE IS ONLY ONE GHOST IN THE WORLD by Sophie Klahr and Corey Zeller Feb 16, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is an excerpt from THERE IS ONLY ONE GHOST IN THE WORLD by Sophie Klahr and Corey Zeller.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “ Today’s piece is collaborative, written by Sophie Klahr and Cory Zeller. I love the way it begins with the legend of the Bermuda Triangle but then turns toward the incredibly personal, though there isn’t a single person’s perspective or experience behind it.”

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

1456: Rubicon by Carl Phillips Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Rubicon by Carl Phillips. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Samiya Bashir writes… “‘Crossing the Rubicon’ has long been a widely used idiom. It refers to having stepped over a line, or passed a point of no return. We use it to say that one has taken the final step into dangerous waters from which there is no retreat; once that line has been crossed, nothing will ever be the same. A new beginning of a certain kind.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1455: Historical Site by Tommye Blount Feb 12, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Historical Site by Tommye Blount. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Samiya Bashir writes… “Today’s poem is one of those that crushes me with its ending. Our Detroit poet manages to whittle the grand and often devastating expansiveness of history right down to the explosive synapses which drive and alight our very gray matter.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1454: Katherine with the Lazy Eye. Short. And Not a Good Poet by francine j. harris Feb 11, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Katherine with the Lazy Eye. Short. And Not a Good Poet by francine j. harris. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Samiya Bashir writes… “Everyone is a hero to someone, or a beauty, or a problem, or all of the above. Today’s poem acknowledges exactly that with a brutal, identifiable honesty. But what this poet insists that we remember is how we are all, also, even if not loved, then so, so very lovable.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1453: Closing Time; Iskandariya by Brigit Pegeen Kelly Feb 10, 2026

Show notes

Today’s poem is Closing Time; Iskandariya by Brigit Pegeen Kelly. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Samiya Bashir writes… “Today’s poem, in ways that I aspire to in my own writing life, manages to take a deep breath in and collapse two thousand years of danger into a single moment of misunderstanding.” 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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