Good podcast

Top 100 most popular podcasts

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

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.

Subscribe

iTunes / Overcast / RSS

Website

slowdownshow.org/

Episodes

1351: [encore] The Happy Middle by Hedgie Choi

Today’s poem is The Happy Middle by Hedgie Choi.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem walloped me with its authentic intelligence. Even in her grief, this poem’s speaker envisions her situation from a different perspective. This poem imagines so artfully, I think you’ll want to revisit it a second time, and then a third. That is the power of authentic intelligence.”


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

2026-10-23
Link to episode

1350: [encore] Real Estate by Richard Siken

Today’s poem is Real Estate by Richard Siken.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem unpacks some of what happens when families change, because of death or divorce or other upheavals. I admire the way it looks not only at the variables—what must necessarily change—but also at the constants.”


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

2026-10-22
Link to episode

1349: [encore] Sati by Vandana Khanna

Today’s poem is Sati by Vandana Khanna.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is a persona poem from the point of view of a Hindu goddess, Sati. The practice of a widow throwing herself on her husband’s funeral pyre is named after Sati, who, in this poem, gets to speak. I think you’ll be moved by what she has to say.”


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

2026-10-21
Link to episode

1345: [encore] Arrangements by Adrienne Chung

Today’s poem is Arrangements by Adrienne Chung.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem speaks to the things we are drawn to, and to the compromises that must happen when we share space with others, and when there just isn’t room for everything.”


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

2026-10-20
Link to episode

1344: [encore] Cento Between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward-Rich

Today’s poem is Cento Between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward-Rich.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “In times that feel divisive and fragmented, today’s poem is a reminder of what we can do and BE together. It’s a reminder of the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.”


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

2026-10-19
Link to episode

Alynda Segarra: Holes by Eileen Myles (Extended Version)

Today’s poem is Holes by Eileen Myles, with special guest Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff.


Alynda Segarra is a singer-songwriter and frontperson of the band Hurray for the Riff Raff. Their music is genre-bending, drawing from punk, indie, and Americana roots.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Alynda shares… “Memories are the way we integrate that which we've lost into our lives. They are our mental holey sweaters. We wear them around, they slowly disintegrate, but we are proud to wear them. Kind of like the bandana around your neck. You're holding on to this place or time or person that you don't have anymore.”


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

2026-10-16
Link to episode

Alynda Segarra: Holes by Eileen Myles

Today’s poem is Holes by Eileen Myles, with special guest Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff.


Alynda Segarra is a singer-songwriter and frontperson of the band Hurray for the Riff Raff. Their music is genre-bending, drawing from punk, indie, and Americana roots.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Alynda shares… “It was through art that I saw many different examples of people who had created a life for themselves that they were told was impossible. So I fully committed to the path of an artist. It's a path that's allowed me freedom from gender or any other confines that were placed upon me.”


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

2026-10-15
Link to episode

1342: [encore] And Then It Was Less Bleak Because We Said So by Wendy Xu

Today’s poem is And Then It Was Less Bleak Because We Said So by Wendy Xu.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When the world is on fire, it can feel frivolous to go dancing, to go to concerts, to host parties, to take vacations. Today’s poem so beautifully addresses the importance of holding onto joy—and onto one another—when the world feels dismal.”


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

2026-10-14
Link to episode

1339: [encore] Wind-Related Ripple in the Wheatfield by Mikko Harvey

Today’s poem is Wind-Related Ripple in the Wheatfield by Mikko Harvey.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Who might I have been—or with whom, or where—if the timing had been different? Did I arrive too late to certain parts of my life, or too early? Or am I right on time? The “Choose Your Own Adventure” aspect of life is something on my mind a lot. I suspect it was on this poet’s mind, too.”


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

2026-10-13
Link to episode

1338: [encore] Are you bringing fruits, plants, seeds, by Karen Llagas

Today’s poem is Are you bringing fruits, plants, seeds, by Karen Llagas.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem looks at the anxiety and the absurdity of America: How many people seem fixated on the dangers outside our borders without acknowledging the dangers within.”


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

2026-10-12
Link to episode

R.K. Russell: They/Them by Danez Smith (Extended Version)

Today’s poem is They/Them by Danez Smith, with special guest R.K. Russell.


R.K. Russell is an NFL legend, writer, and social justice advocate who made history by becoming the first out active NFL player to identify as bisexual.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, R.K. shares… “Oftentimes we see writing as a reflection of society, when really writing is where we bend society. It's where we bend the rules. Society is not shaping what we write. What we write is shaping society. Identity and relationships are what bust down the framework.”


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

2026-10-09
Link to episode

R.K. Russell: They/Them by Danez Smith

Today’s poem is They/Them by Danez Smith, with special guest R.K. Russell.


R.K. Russell is an NFL legend, writer, and social justice advocate who made history by becoming the first out active NFL player to identify as bisexual.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, R.K. shares… “When you start to want to live authentically as yourself, there are also sacrifices that must be made. A lot of those sacrifices are rooted in your relationships. How people view you, how people want you to give to them and love them and care for them.”


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

2026-10-08
Link to episode

1337: [encore] New York Address by Linda Gregg

Today’s poem is New York Address by Linda Gregg.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this encore episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem captures that feeling when you’ve just had it — you’ve absolutely hit your limit. But at the same time, you realize that you’re the only person who can pick yourself back up. You have to keep yourself going.”


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

2026-10-07
Link to episode

1335: [encore] Bonfire Opera by Danusha Laméris

Today’s poem is Bonfire Opera by Danusha Laméris.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this encore episode, Maggie writes… “Yes, I have new lines around my eyes and new glints of silver in my hair, but my body continues to surprise me in wonderful ways, too. It brings me a lot of pleasure—maybe even more pleasure than it did when I was in my teens, twenties, and even thirties. Because I appreciate it. And because I am less self-conscious. That is one of the gifts of aging: Becoming more yourself, and caring less about what others think about you or expect from you.”


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

2026-10-06
Link to episode

1334: [encore] Étude by Amy Gerstler

Today’s poem is Étude by Amy Gerstler.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this encore episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is a celebration of sound, and also a celebration of our own power to interpret sound and make meaning—as poets do. Poems, like songs, are meant to live in the air. They are their own music.”


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

2026-10-05
Link to episode

David Duchovny: Dream Song 1 by John Berryman (Extended Version)

Today’s poem is Dream Song 1 by John Berryman, with special guest David Duchovny.


You know him from his breakout role as Fox Mulder on The X-Files, as well as appearances on other hit series like Californication and Twin Peaks. Here’s an extended conversation with David that we hope you enjoy.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.


In this episode, David shares… “I remember when I first read "Dream Song 1" by John Berryman in high school. I think I understood that I was coming out of the Eden of childhood in a way and having these complicated thoughts, more complicated thoughts than I'd had as a child. And not that I would've put it in words that I just put it in now, but there was a loss involved that was moving to me.”


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

2026-10-02
Link to episode

David Duchovny: Dream Song 1 by John Berryman

Today’s poem is Dream Song 1 by John Berryman, with special guest David Duchovny. You know him from his breakout role as Fox Mulder on The X-Files, as well as appearances on other hit series like Californication and Twin Peaks.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, David shares… “Every day is a loss. We can focus on love and focus on positives, but the fact is we're living in time, and things are being stripped away from us constantly. And it can lead to either depression or to valuing things — it just depends on your psychology, your worldview, the rigorousness of your yearning to want to be on the positive side of things and not depress yourself too much.”


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

2026-10-01
Link to episode

1333: [encore] Crossing the Line by E. Ethelbert Miller

Today’s poem is Crossing the Line by E. Ethelbert Miller.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem reads to me like a love poem, a tribute, to a long friendship. It reminds me that part of how we know ourselves is through the people who know us best, and who have loved us through our changes.”


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

2026-09-30
Link to episode

1430: [encore] Earth Shovel by Dan Albergotti

Today’s poem is Earth Shovel by Dan Albergotti.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem, which looks at the fragility of our planet, begins with two epigraphs. One is from American astronomer Carl Sagan, from his book Pale Blue Dot. The other is the famous line from politician Michael Steele.”


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

2026-09-29
Link to episode

1359: [encore] Lotioning My Mother’s Back by Ama Codjoe

Today’s poem is Lotioning My Mother’s Back by Ama Codjoe.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The world feels like a hard place right now—a not very soft and tender place. In times that feel difficult, it’s tempting to retreat, to harden ourselves, to “numb out.” But I think, more and more, that tenderness is what we need—toward one another, and toward ourselves. We need touch. We need connection. We need soft places to land. We need to hold on to one another.”


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

2026-09-28
Link to episode

[encore] 1501: at the baggage claim in JFK by Lo Naylor

Today’s poem is at the baggage claim in JFK by Lo Naylor. This episode was originally released on April 24, 2026.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I’m preparing for a multi-city book tour, I’m not nervous about reading in front of people or answering questions or finding my way around a strange place. I’m nervous about getting where I’m going. And with somewhat regular government shutdowns impacting TSA these days, those nerves aren’t coming from nowhere! But there are so many beautiful moments in airports, if you pay attention: parents comforting children, or occupying them with silly games; couples excited to be going on a trip together; teams of uniformed student athletes traveling to, or from, a big game.”


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

2026-09-25
Link to episode

[encore] 1445: Hackberry by Cecily Parks

Today’s poem is Hackberry by Cecily Parks. This episode was originally released on January 29, 2026.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is a kind of love poem—to a beloved tree, and to the sense of home it created.”


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

2026-09-24
Link to episode

[encore] 1568: Panegyric by Leila Farjami

Today’s poem is Panegyric by Leila Farjami. This episode was originally released on July 28, 2026.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Poems that engage with war and grief are texts that communicate to us in ways that news articles about war, and loss, and grief cannot. An article might tell us what happened, who died, how many casualties there were. It should provide facts as to who, what, where, when, and how. It might even attempt the why. But a poem sings to us. A poem sits with us. Holds us, even.”


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

2026-09-23
Link to episode

[encore] 1507: How to Dress a Star by Nicholas Goodly

Today’s poem is How to Dress a Star by Nicholas Goodly. This episode was originally released on May 4, 2026.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem reminds me to feel tenderness toward the earlier versions of me. It reminds me that we should acknowledge our past selves more. Just think of what earlier versions of you were able to endure. Bless them for that.”


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

2026-09-22
Link to episode

[encore] 1347: Animal Prudence by Kathy Fagan

Today’s poem is Animal Prudence by Kathy Fagan. This episode was originally released on September 8, 2025.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is a favorite of mine for its associative leaps—the way it carries us from image to image, memory to memory. I admire the way it uses the language we encounter in our lives to make those leaps: road signs, the names of streets and flowers, the lists we find in our pockets.”


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

2026-09-21
Link to episode

[encore] 1336: I Find Myself Defending Pigeons by Keith S. Wilson

Today’s poem is I Find Myself Defending Pigeons by Keith S. Wilson. This episode was originally released on August 22, 2025.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “One thing I love about poems is how they give us the opportunity to take our time, to dial in, to look and listen closely. Not everything screams to be noticed. Some things barely whisper! Or they might just squawk or coo now and then.”


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

2026-09-18
Link to episode

[encore] 1369: Six Hours Lost, Land Between the Lakes by Kathleen Driskell

Today’s poem is Six Hours Lost, Land Between the Lakes by Kathleen Driskell. This episode was originally released on October 8, 2025.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem tells a story about a tense encounter in the woods. I so admire how this poet unfolds the narrative, then leaves me sighing deeply at the end.”


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

2026-09-17
Link to episode

[encore] 1520: The New City by Hieu Minh Nguyen

Today’s poem is The New City by Hieu Minh Nguyen. This episode was originally released on May 21, 2026.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “There’s a very specific pleasure in doing things alone. Going to the movies by yourself, sitting in the dark with your own drink and popcorn or candy that you don’t have to share, and sitting anywhere you want in the theatre without asking a companion where they want to sit. Or having a meal on your own, party of one, just people watching and enjoying the ambience without the need to make conversation.”


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

2026-09-16
Link to episode

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

Today’s poem is Ledge (ars poetica) (love poem) (true story) by Amorak Huey. This episode was originally released on December 15, 2025.


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.”


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

2026-09-15
Link to episode

[encore] 1427: A toast to something beautiful flapping in the wind by J. Hope Stein

Today’s poem is A toast to something beautiful flapping in the wind by J. Hope Stein. This episode was originally released on January 5, 2026.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Once upon a time, I was a new mother with a baby girl in my arms, and I was her whole world. It was seventeen years ago, but sometimes I swear I can transport myself back there just by closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I remember reading that a baby’s first three months of life are called the fourth trimester. Three trimesters are spent in the mother’s body, bobbing around like a little fish, but the "fourth trimester" is when everyone is adapting to life in the outside world. The babies seem bewildered, trying to adjust to nursing and sleeping, but I think parents are just as bewildered.”


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

2026-09-14
Link to episode

[encore] 1491: The Plum You're Going to Eat Next Summer by Gayle Brandeis

Today’s poem is The Plum You're Going to Eat Next Summer by Gayle Brandeis. This episode was originally released on April 10, 2026.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I know optimism can be a tough sell when there’s so much suffering, so much difficulty, in the world. But this brokenness is exactly why we need more poems, more paintings, more films, more plays. More art. To make things that don’t exist yet — and don’t need to exist, because that is the very definition of art — and to send them out into the world is wildly, impractically, gorgeously hopeful.”


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

2026-09-11
Link to episode

[encore] 1358: Parts of a Body House by Erika Meitner

Today’s poem is Parts of a Body House by Erika Meitner. This episode was originally released on September 23, 2025.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “It struck me recently how much technology has changed our relationships with our bodies. There are devices that tell us how well (or poorly) we slept the night before, how many steps we took in a given day, what our heart rate is when we work out. We have access to more data about our physical selves than ever, and we don’t even need to go to the doctor to get that data. We also have access to our own image more than ever before. I know that technology has made me more aware of my body and my face, because I see myself so often: on Zoom, on Facetime, in selfies.”


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

2026-09-10
Link to episode

[encore] 1478: If Night You Were a City by Adam Wiedewitsch

Today’s poem is If Night You Were a City by Adam Wiedewitsch. This episode was originally released on March 17, 2026.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’ve always loved myths, legends, fables, and fairy tales. When I was young, the myth of Icarus was one that captured my imagination.”


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

2026-09-09
Link to episode

[encore] 1362: For You Who Have Loved Old Dogs by Silas House

Today’s poem is For You Who Have Loved Old Dogs by Silas House. This episode was originally released on September 29, 2025.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “My Boston terrier, Phoebe, is about to turn eleven, so if she were a human, she’d be a 77 year old woman. If Phoebe were one of the Golden Girls, she’d probably be Rose: quirky, loyal, a little dim-witted. We adopted her from a Boston terrier rescue organization when she was one and a half, in the spring of 2016. When people assumed that the best thing to happen to me in 2016 was my poem “Good Bones” going viral, I have to correct them. “Good Bones” changed my life, to be sure, but the best thing to happen to me that year was Phoebe. As she grows older—silver muzzle now, too—I get emotional when I’m reminded that my years with her are limited. We only have so much time.”


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

2026-09-08
Link to episode

[encore] 1373: Protection Spell Jar by Cynthia Marie Hoffman

Today’s poem is Protection Spell Jar by Cynthia Marie Hoffman. This episode was originally released on October 14, 2025.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this encore episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is from a collection of prose poems that chronicles a woman’s journey through obsessive-compulsive disorder, from childhood into adulthood. I admire the way we’re invited into the speaker’s consciousness, to see her mind at work.”


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

2026-09-07
Link to episode

1586: WHITMAN: by Larry Levis

Today’s poem is WHITMAN: by Larry Levis.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “Every year, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs holds a conference in a different American city. A few years ago, when the literary industry descended on Kansas City, a poet I know posted on Instagram that he wanted to go to Charlie Parker’s grave. The pilgrimage was based on a Larry Levis poem. I threw my hat in the ring to join him.”


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

2026-09-04
Link to episode

1585: Dialogue on Violence by Jayne Cortez

Today’s poem is Dialogue on Violence by Jayne Cortez.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “If you’re listening to this episode first thing in the morning or as you go to sleep, looking for something easeful, I should apologize. Today’s poem is not that. It is a grim litany. But I think by naming our harsh reality, it holds out hope for a different world. It will be read to you in just one voice, my voice, but the title calls it a dialogue. I want you to consider, while you’re listening, whom the dialogue might be between.”


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

2026-09-03
Link to episode

1584: Missed Time by Ha Jin

Today’s poem is Missed Time by Ha Jin.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “I love to journal as documentation. To remember what happened in my day-to-day, even the small things I see and feel. I can thus make my own life real to myself. This is something I’ve worked out over time. When I look back at my first blue notebook, the recollections are fragmentary and melodramatic. They hardly make sense as a record. However much I feel a positive value in the process, if I look back at most of my journals, I would think that my life is miserable. Because I often turn to the page when I’m having a tough time, when I have difficult experiences to work through. I love to be alone, but it seems I write the most when I’m feeling lonely in the worst way. Today’s poem considers, joyously, the anonymous effect that this dynamic could have.”


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

2026-09-02
Link to episode

1583: Are You Not Tired Yet? by Mohammed al-Khatib, translated by Tayseer Abu Odeh and Sherah Bloor

Today’s poem is Are You Not Tired Yet? by Mohammed al-Khatib.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “Though under ceasefire at the time of this recording, Gazans are still living in unimaginably difficult conditions, largely uprooted from their homes and experiencing limited access to resources and information. There has been a massive loss of human life in Palestine in the last three years, making it impossible for anyone to be without personal grief. The awareness of loss and trauma is undeniably constant.”


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

2026-09-01
Link to episode

1582: Visitor's Center by T Bambrick

Today’s poem is Visitor's Center by T Bambrick.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “Today’s poem takes me back to a specificity of a Washington State public school education: learning the intricacies of salmon, sturgeon, dams, ecology, and electricity. What I didn’t see then, that I see now, is the tension between control and appreciation of the natural world. That our modern lives rely on a system built by lionizing the will of man. The speaker, here, wonders: At what cost?”


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

2026-08-31
Link to episode

From Death of an Artist | Petra Mathers and Her Michael

We’re bringing you a preview of the new series from the podcast, Death of An Artist. In February 2024, celebrated children’s book author and illustrator Petra Mathers and her husband, photographer Michael Mathers, mailed letters to dozens of friends and family members to let them know they had died by suicide. Petra and Michael were by all accounts healthy, happy, and in love. Why did they choose to die together? And what did that decision do to the people left to mourn them? Journalists Leon Neyfakh and Alice Gregory set out to interview everyone who got one of Petra and Michael’s letters — as one married couple trying to understand another. Through intimate conversations with Petra and Michael’s friends and family about their own relationships to aging, grief, death, and the friends they thought they knew, Death of an Artist weaves together a portrait of a community grappling with the Mathers’ deaths and the final words they left behind. Done entirely in recordings, Death of an Artist is as much a love story as one about death. Listen to Death of An Artist wherever you get podcasts. And if you want to hear the full story right now, ad-free, you can binge the entire season with a Pushkin+ subscription — sign up on the Death of an Artist show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm/plus.

2026-08-29
Link to episode

1581: Stop Thinking & End Your Problems by Elisa Gabbert

Today’s poem is Stop Thinking & End Your Problems by Elisa Gabbert.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “So often my mind feels crowded. Busy. Like a rush hour intersection of internal monologue. I’ve tried lots of strategies. I’m still trying new strategies. Blocking out focus time, tweaking notifications, using restrictions. My favorite strategy is keeping an art book on my desk. When I feel the desire to distract from the onslaught, or when I hit a mental block, I open up the book to a random painting. I don’t stop thinking; I change the shape of my thinking — by looking at art and avoiding words for a moment.”


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

2026-08-28
Link to episode

1580: Story of My Life by Jameson Fitzpatrick

Today’s poem is Story of My Life by Jameson Fitzpatrick.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “Today’s poem shows us how our desires are about both projection and possession.”


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

2026-08-27
Link to episode

1579: Rain by Jennifer Grotz

Today’s poem is Rain by Jennifer Grotz.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “Loss of possibility is one of the greatest heartbreaks we can face. But today’s poem knows the bittersweet secret: that our memories of the possible are ours to keep.”


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

2026-08-26
Link to episode

1578: Lover of Cars by Olivia Sokolowski

Today’s poem is Lover of Cars by Olivia Sokolowski.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “I keep today’s poem taped on my wall. I thought it spoke to me because it connects my father’s love of cars to my own love of poetry. But I realized, in writing this, that what it does on a craft level is what knocks me off my feet every time.”


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

2026-08-25
Link to episode

1577: Portrait of the Speaker Riding a Greyhound Bus by Eduardo Martinez-Leyva

Today’s poem is Portrait of the Speaker Riding a Greyhound Bus by Eduardo Martinez-Leyva.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, guest host Myka Kielbon writes… “In the seemingly endless spring of 2020, my roommate and I briefly decamped Los Angeles and holed up with her family in Southern Oregon. The town was already quiet during the best of times; that spring, it was even quieter. We plugged away at our desk jobs that we’d taken with us. We knew we were lucky, but still the days felt very long. At the foot of the bed in the room where I slept was a framed photograph of a dinghy in a body of water. The water was still, and the colors were a bit washed out. It was so serene. And still, it was full of potential. The photograph lacked horizon — there was smooth water all the way to each matted edge. And the dinghy was empty, yet equipped with oars.”


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

2026-08-24
Link to episode

[encore] 1486: from Perihelion: A History of Touch by Franny Choi

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This encore episode was originally released on April 3, 2026.


Today’s poem is from Perihelion: A History of Touch by Franny Choi.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is about the snow moon, the first full moon of February. The explanation behind the name “snow moon” is fairly straightforward: February is often the snowiest month. After reading this quiet stunner of a poem, I was inspired to turn on one of my favorite Nick Drake songs, “Pink Moon.” I highly recommend this poem/song pairing.”


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

2026-08-21
Link to episode

[encore] 1438: The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This encore episode was originally released on January 20, 2026.


Today’s poem is The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem addresses a child—a child full of questions about the world. It reminds me that as parents, we don’t need to have the answers, and we don’t need to pretend to have them. Instead we can listen, stay open, and honor our kids’ curiosity and wonder. Honor the poets and philosophers that they are.”


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

2026-08-20
Link to episode

[encore] 1355: Rancho Bar by Margot Kahn

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This encore episode was originally released on September 18, 2026.


Today’s poem is Rancho Bar by Margot Kahn.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem looks, tenderly, at two siblings attempting to close the distance between them. The poem is made even more poignant by the fact that its setting, a bar in California, has since burned down in a wildfire.”


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

2026-08-19
Link to episode

[encore] 1340: From the Sky by Sara Abou Rashed

The Slowdown is taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This encore episode was originally released on August 28, 2025.


Today’s poem is From the Sky by Sara Abou Rashed.


The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I think about ways to foster empathy, perspective, and care, one of those ways is poetry. I know poetry can’t stop bombs from falling, and it can’t feed the starving, and it can’t evacuate people to safety. I know this. But poetry can change our inner world. We need that change, one person at a time. We need to reclaim our humanity.”


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

2026-08-18
Link to episode
A tiny webapp by I'm With Friends.
Updated daily with data from the Apple Podcasts.