The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

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[encore] 282: Waiting for Happiness by Nomi Stone Apr 22, 2025

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Today’s poem is Waiting for Happiness by Nomi Stone. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. 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 December 24, 2019.

In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “It's a good thing to have a dog, someone who cares about you, someone who shares their whole heart with you entirely. Dogs don't hold back. They don't keep secrets. And they accept you as you are right now.”

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

[encore] 305: Wake Up by Carl Phillips Apr 21, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Wake Up by Carl Phillips. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. 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 January 24, 2020.

In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “That's how it feels sometimes listening to news of our daily catastrophes, like all of us, no matter who we are, are lost together. And the old signs, the old facts even are gone, insufficient to the new task we, together, must face. Why does that idea, the idea that together, we must find a new means of putting things back in order — why does it somehow comfort me?”

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

[encore] 1045: Sonnet for Ochún by Leslie Sainz Apr 18, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Sonnet for Ochún by Leslie Sainz.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We're currently taking a break and will be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on January 19, 2023.

In this episode, Major writes… “In today’s poem, I hear a shared melancholy, a world-weariness where the edges of life fail to offer answers. Yet, I detect, too, in the presence of a deity, the transits and rituals of hope and renewal.”

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

[encore] 865: Worry (the Dybbuk) by Anthony Immergluck Apr 17, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Worry (the Dybbuk) by Anthony Immergluck.

In this episode, Major writes… “After living through all manner of personal and communal tribulations, I’ve come to believe things will work themselves out. Yet, it’s not that the worries have gone away. Just like in my early days, I’ve learned to find ways to ease the burdens and uneasiness of living. Of course, I’m not trying to find a fully anxiety-free existence; it’s good to have a barking dog occasionally at one’s heels. I just try to walk past it when I need to.”

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

[encore] 915: Who Among You Knows the Essence of Garlic? by Garrett Hongo Apr 16, 2025

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Today’s poem is Who Among You Knows the Essence of Garlic? by Garrett Hongo.

In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem exemplifies the kind of deep historical and sensory awareness only possible when one has turned their senses into a laboratory of feeling and wonder.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

[encore] 848: Six for Gold by Kate Hanson Foster Apr 15, 2025

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Today’s poem is Six for Gold by Kate Hanson Foster.

In this episode, Major writes… “Confession: As a young parent, when my children barraged me with questions, so many times, I wanted to [poof] disappear. We’ve all experienced this moment (right?) when a child suddenly becomes a human question generator or a “you-think-you’re-smart-but-I’m-going-to-bring-you-to-your-knees-in-recognition-of-your-ignorance” kind of a child? No, there was never malice, but the onslaught felt relentless. Today’s poem models the pitch of imagination that goes into satisfying a child’s curiosity in a way that leaves room for magic.”

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

[encore] 846: Some Madness There by Charlotte Pence Apr 14, 2025

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Today’s poem is Some Madness There by Charlotte Pence.

In this episode, Major writes… “When I arrived in Eugene, Oregon after an arduous yet stunning road trip of camping and driving through the midwest, the Rockies, the Arches National Park, Death Valley, and up California’s Route 101, I felt oddly reborn into an existence and landscape that felt like it was always a part of me. Today’s illuminating poem contends with that normal yet emotional experience of children leaving home, and posits that this wanderlust is maybe, genetically encoded in our natal spirit of adventure and discovery.”

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

1331: The Party is Downstairs by Didi Jackson Apr 11, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is The Party is Downstairs by Didi Jackson.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem honors the family dog whose imperfections are all the more reason to love. The Slowdown was more than a labor of love. Each episode was an invitation to dream how we might come to love our imperfect world.”

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

1330: Playback by Lauren Camp Apr 10, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Playback by Lauren Camp.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “I used to believe great art emerged from intense passion, a committed discipline driven by a purity of purpose. Of late, I use the word hunger as a measure of art, as an aesthetic value. Hunger as that inexplicable quality that conveys the artist’s works as their unique form of living, how they breathe where creation is existence.”

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

1329: Mantle by Kevin Young Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

Today’s poem is Mantle by Kevin Young.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s minimalist poem makes a poignant observation about the images of those who silently populate our homes, offices, museums, and walls. Their presence is our eventual destination.”

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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