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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:

[encore] 470: Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry by Jericho Brown Jul 15, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry by Jericho Brown.

The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on September 11, 2020.

In this episode, Tracy writes… “I like it when I pass into the orbit of a stranger and, without expecting or even wanting to, I feel a very accidental, very fleeting form of kinship. For me, this happens sometimes when I’m traveling and far from home — far from my everyday me. Or when I’m moving through public space while also deeply lost in thought. Talking to myself maybe. Or laughing at something I think only I have seen. And then I meet unfamiliar eyes, and I understand that we are in the same moment together. How wonderful would it be if trust, or even love, might be possible between any of us — or even all of us. I mean, if we let ourselves believe such a thing is possible.”

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

[encore] 393: Song In Which We Yet Sidestep Disaster by Tess Taylor Jul 14, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Song In Which We Yet Sidestep Disaster by Tess Taylor.

The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on May 27, 2020.

In this episode, Tracy writes… “How can everything be? How is it possible? Maybe to be alive is a matter of accepting that such answers do not concern us. Maybe being alive in matter is a matter of learning to hear and see and feel and trust and to love all that is available to us.”

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

[encore] 1175: Hunger by Kelli Russell Agodon Jul 11, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Hunger by Kelli Russell Agodon.

Last spring, we asked our community to submit poems that have helped you slow down in your lives. This week we’re revisiting these selections. Today’s selection was submitted by Jeannine from Washington.

In this episode, Major writes… “What is it about this stage of dating that has us turn off the radar, render us blind to the red flags, to what we hope our instincts should catch? We become wild in our desperation to present ourselves as worthy of love. Our passionate hearts render us prey to the lost souls who present facades of well-being.”

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

[encore] 1174: Separation Wall by Naomi Shihab Nye Jul 10, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Separation Wall by Naomi Shihab Nye.

Last spring, we asked our community to submit poems that have helped you slow down in your lives. This week we’re revisiting these selections. Today’s selection was submitted by Meital from Washington, D.C.

In this episode, Major writes… “Coexistence on the planet demands that we transcend reactionary treatment of each other. For this reason, we need poems to tease out our innocence, that part of us untouched by the callousness of the world, to bring us to a sanity beyond inherited hurts and old fears, away from the logic of ‘an eye for an eye.’ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that this kind of violence ‘destroys communities and makes humanity impossible. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.’”

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

[encore] 1173: Sono by Suji Kwock Kim Jul 09, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Sono by Suji Kwock Kim.

The Slowdown is currently taking a break. Last spring, we asked our community to submit poems that have helped you slow down in your lives. This week we’re revisiting these selections.

In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem coordinates a masterful flow of language, simulating the journey of a child crossing into our time through another’s body. The poem reminds us, with sound and texture, to not lose our sense of marvel.”

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

[encore] 1172: From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee Jul 08, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee.

Last spring, we asked our community to submit poems that have helped you slow down in your lives. This week we’re revisiting these selections. Today’s selection was submitted by Candace from North Carolina.

This week we’re featuring the team’s selections. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem exults in that bounty of spiritual abundance and celebrates the joy inside us yielded from the land. ”

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

[encore] 1171: One Art by Elizabeth Bishop Jul 07, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is One Art by Elizabeth Bishop.

Last spring, we asked our community to submit poems that have helped you slow down in your lives. This week we’re revisiting these selections. Today’s selection was submitted by Doug from Minnesota.

In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s iconic poem inflects so much psychological truth and honest emotion in the wake of a parting; the hard pain must be worked through.”

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

[encore] 664: Prayer Beginning with a Line by Czaykowski by Pablo Piñero Stillmann Jul 04, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Prayer Beginning with a Line by Czaykowski by Pablo Piñero Stillmann.

The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on April 29, 2022.

In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “Today’s poem is that kind of prayer, a prayer for pleasure, for the brief moment of relief, to be made whole again. In this poem’s repetition we hear the desperation, but also the song.”

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

[encore] 677: Practicing by Ciona Rouse Jul 03, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Practicing by Ciona Rouse.

The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on May 18, 2022.

In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “I’ve always been interested in how we plan for the future. I try to put a little money away now and again for a rainy day as they say. I try to imagine future scenarios to see if I am prepared. But if the last three years have taught me anything, it’s that I cannot be prepared for all the scenarios. Life is full of terrific… and terrifying surprises. I never know what’s coming next. I can only be here at this moment and try to be somewhat flexible.”

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

[encore] 541: Little Grey Dreams by Angelina Weld Grimké Jul 02, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Little Grey Dreams by Angelina Weld Grimké.

The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on November 9, 2021.

In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “Today’s meaningful poem by early 20th century poet Angelina Weld Grimké is a tribute to dreaming, the wishes we send into the world without an idea of what will become of them.”

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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