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The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

American Public Media
The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
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399 episodes

  • The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

    1363: [encore] Notes on Beachgrass by Yong-Yu Huang

    29/10/2026 | 6 mins.
    Today’s poem is Notes on Beachgrass by Yong-Yu Huang.

    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem offers us images we often find in poetry: the ocean, the moon, dreams, a mother, a wound. But it offers us these elements in such a profoundly original and moving way. I couldn’t read this poem just once—I had to read it several times, picking up new treasures with each reading, like walking along the same stretch of beach at different times of day and finding new shells.”

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

    1360: [encore] Wind, Blue Sky by Susan Aizenberg

    28/10/2026 | 6 mins.
    Today’s poem is Wind, Blue Sky by Susan Aizenberg.

    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem speaks to the challenge of staying in the present moment, and having gratitude for that moment, when memory is always doing what it does best: calling to us from afar.”

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

    1354: [encore] Checkout by Caroline Bird

    27/10/2026 | 5 mins.
    Today’s poem is Checkout by Caroline Bird.

    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’m willing to bet that no one on their death bed says, “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.” No one, taking stock of their life in those final days and moments, is thinking about spreadsheets or profits or ROI - Return on Investment. I can imagine what I’ll be thinking about at the end of my life: my beloveds, and the beauty of this place I’ve called home, and the memories I treasure most.”

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

    1352: [encore] Blue by Jodie Hollander

    26/10/2026 | 6 mins.
    Today’s poem is Blue by Jodie Hollander.

    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem speaks to how we all see the world—and our lives—with completely unique eyes. With a vision colored by our own experiences.”

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

    1351: [encore] The Happy Middle by Hedgie Choi

    23/10/2026 | 6 mins.
    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
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About 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.
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