Today's poem is Blues for Almost Forgotten Music by Roxane Beth Johnson.

This week, we're featuring poems related to music. Songs that move and change us. Songs that heal us. What can we discover about ourselves, when we listen to music? A lot, it seems.

Today's poem is The Piano Speaks by Sandra Beasley.

This week, we're featuring poems related to music. Songs that move and change us. Songs that heal us. What can we discover about ourselves, when we listen to music? A lot, it seems.

Today's poem is There Is a Light That Never Goes Out by Kevin Young.

This week, we're featuring poems related to music. Songs that move and change us. Songs that heal us. What can we discover about ourselves, when we listen to music? A lot, it seems.

Today's poem is Groovin' Low by A.B. Spellman.

This week, we're featuring poems related to music. Songs that move and change us. Songs that heal us. What can we discover about ourselves, when we listen to music? A lot, it seems.

Today's poem is Minneapolipstick by Rachel McKibbens.

This week, we're featuring poems related to music. Songs that move and change us. Songs that heal us. What can we discover about ourselves, when we listen to music? A lot, it seems.

Today's poem is Some Call It God by Jabari Asim.

Today's poem is In the middle of Metro Manila's water crisis, my mother posts a picture of my siblings in a swimming pool by Kabel Mishka Ligot.

Today's poem is Aquí Hay Todo, Mija by Alexis Aceves Garcia.

Today's poem is We Have Been Believers by Margaret Walker.

Today's poem is One Vote by Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

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

Today's poem is Dusty Lemons by Maja Lukic.

Today's episode is "You Will Never Get Death / Out of Your System" by Dana Levin.

Today's poem is The Toothbrush to the Bicycle Tire by Sarah Kay.

Today's poem is The Hastily Assembled Angel Falls at the Beginning of the World by Shane McCrae.

Today's poem is praise poets and their pens by JP Howard.

Today's poem is Chance Meeting by Susan Browne.

Today's poem is To be of use by Marge Piercy.

Today's poem is What It's Like to Fall In Love by Heidi Seaborn.

Today's episode is For Black Children at the End of the World—and the Beginning by Roger Reeves.

Today's poem is American Mother by Pamela Hart. This episode originally aired on May 15, 2020.

Today's poem is The Feeling by Ari Banias.

Today's poem is Tyranny of the Human Face by Chase Berggrun.

Today's poem is I Found Kin in a Thrift Store Photograph by Aaron Coleman.

Today's poem is Pelvic Ultrasound by Anne Barngrover.

Today's poem is Mercury in Retrograde by Sheryl Luna.

This week, we're featuring poems related to outer space. Stars. Planets. Even aliens. What can we discover about ourselves, when we consider the cosmos?

Today's poem is On a Spaceship Somewhere, Long After Empire's Collapse by Jesús I. Valles.

This week, we're featuring poems related to outer space. Stars. Planets. Even aliens. What can we discover about ourselves, when we consider the cosmos?

Today's poem is You Can Take Off Your Sweater, I've Made Today Warm by Paige Lewis.

This week, we're featuring poems related to outer space. Stars. Planets. Even aliens. What can we discover about ourselves, when we consider the cosmos?

Today's poem is The Ghosts of the Space Dogs by Alexandra Oliver.

This week, we're featuring poems related to outer space. Stars. Planets. Even aliens. What can we discover about ourselves, when we consider the cosmos?

Today's poem is Dancing with Kiko on the Moon by Rosebud Ben-Oni.

This week, we're featuring poems related to outer space. Stars. Planets. Even aliens. What can we discover about ourselves, when we consider the cosmos?

Today's poem is Essay on Reentry by Reginald Dwayne Betts. This episode originally aired on January 27, 2020.

Today's poem is Soft-Bodied Animals Leave Few Traces by Mitchell Jacobs.

Today's poem is Telephone of the Wind by Eddie Kim.

Today's poem is We Eat Out Together by Bernadette Mayer.

Today's poem is When Fannie Lou Hamer Said by Mahogany L. Browne.

Today's poem is Pomegranate Means Grenade by Jamaal May.

This episode originally aired on January 28, 2020.

Today's poem is Mood Ring by Jaswinder Bolina.

Today's poem is The Aisle Not Taken by Karen Poppy.

Today's poem is Climbing China's Great Wall by Afaa M. Weaver.

Today's poem is I saw Emmett Till this week at the grocery store by Eve L. Ewing.

Today's poem is Miz Rosa Rides the Bus by Angela Jackson.

This episode originally aired on February 24, 2020.

Today's poem is Early Sunday Morning by Edward Hirsch.

Today's poem is (First Trimester) by Craig Santos Perez.

Today's poem is Forgetfulness by Billy Collins.

Today's poem is Happiness by Paisley Rekdal.

Today's poem is Inheritance by Camille Rankine.

This episode originally aired on February 17, 2020.

Today's poem is For the Woman on Main Street Stopping to Pull Up Her Pantyhose by Kristene Kaye Brown.

Today's poem is In Praise of My Threaded Eyebrows by Joshua Nguyen.

Today's poem is They Feed They Lion by Philip Levine.

Today's poem is Better or Worse by Heather McHugh.

This week, we’re featuring poems about food and all the many ways it sustains us. Because food is community and memory. It’s struggle, joy, and so much more. Fish Heads by R.A. Villanueva Yanked free at the gills from cartilage and spine, these fish heads my mother cleans, whose bodies she scales, throws all into salt water and crushed tamarind. At dinner she alone will spoon out their eyes with her fingers, suck down each pair as we watch. See, this is why the three of you could never hide anything from me—as though these organs brought her sight to be soaked through the tongue. When I tell her that I have tried to make this stew from memory, she warns, Don’t waste what should be eaten. Reminds me of every delicate gift we have thrown away: tilapia stomach best soured with vinegar, milkfish liver to melt against the dome of the mouth. That after church, a bucket of chicken soon became a blessing of wing gristle and skin, dark meat no one else wanted to save. We refused to taste her gizzards and hearts fried in fat, mocked the smell of pig blood curdled on the stove, wished gone her tripe steamed with beef bouillon and onion broth. After my brother and sister push aside bowls of baby squid in garlic ink, gag at my mention of ducks in their shells, boiled alive in brine, my mother believes I was the only one to share in such things. Which maybe means, she says, in some former life you and I were seabirds or vampires or wolves. "Fish Heads," by R.A. Villanueva, from RELIQUARIA by R.A. Villanueva, copyright © 2014 University of Nebraska Press. Used by permission of University of Nebraska Press.

This week, we’re featuring poems about food and all the many ways it sustains us. Because food is community and memory. It’s struggle, joy, and so much more. Bliss Point or What Can Best Be Achieved by Cheeseby Benjamin Garcia A.k.a. the other gold. Now that’s the stuff, shredded or melted or powdered or canned. Behold the pinnacle of man in a cheeto puff! Now that’s the stuff you’ve been primed for: fatty & salty & crunchy and poof—gone. There’s the proof. Though your grandmother never even had one. You can’t have just one. You inhale them puff— after puff— after puff— You’re a chain smoker. Tongue coated & coaxed but not saturated or satiated. It’s like pure flavor, but sadder. Each pink ping in your pinball-mouth expertly played by the makers who have studied you, the human animal, and culled from the rind your Eve in the shape of a cheese curl. Girl, come curl in the dim light of the TV. Veg out on the verge of no urge of anything. Long ago we beached ourselves, climbed up the trees then down the trees, knuckled across the dirt & grasses & thorns & Berber carpet. Now is the age of sitting, so sit. And I must say, crouched on the couch like that, you resemble no animal. Smug in your Snuggie and snug in your sloth, you look nothing like a sloth. And you are not an anteater, an anteater eats ants without fear of diabetes. Though breathing, one could say, resembles a chronic disease. What’s real cheese and what is cheese product? It’s difficult to say but being alive today is real- real- really like a book you can’t put down, a stone that plummets from a great height. Life’s a “page-turner” alright. But don’t worry if you miss the finale of your favorite show, you can catch it on queue. Make room for me and I’ll binge on this, the final season with you. "Bliss Point or What Can Best Be Achieved by Cheese," by Benjamin Garcia. Used by permission of the poet.

This week, we’re featuring poems about food and all the many ways it sustains us. Because food is community and memory. It’s struggle, joy, and so much more. Oxtail Stew by David Dominguez At five o’clock in the morning, I walked to work and passed the green ponds of Horizon Park where the last bluegill, caught on the low, slight bank, panted hard in the dark mud, crushed glass, sour bottle caps, whiskey, and the iron weight of heat and smog. This haze stared through eyes gray as the broken window panes on the cheap side of town, and when this haze held you and whispered in your ears its quiet tragedies, it stole your breath quick as time. This is where men gathered to sell peanuts, buckets of oranges, and roses, and they sat on the benches and watched the trucks drive by and disappear. What I want to say is simple: a man must do more than sell roses where the bums go and beg— he must keep something holy. He must breathe the winds that rustle the orchards of the valley where the white almond blooms replenish with their soft scent. He must learn from the Appaloosa when she walks in from the fields and bows her head to a trough of water that reflects nothing but her eyes and the stars. Shoulder, fat, bone, and loose sheet metal banged out a day-long cacophony. Twenty-eight pounds of spice had to be mixed before the grinder was done. Mustard powder, paprika, salt, and chili powder boiled in my nose, in my eyes, and in the red throb of my hard nicked-up knuckles. By late morning the meat defrosted, and the boxes began their ooze. Pig parts became easy to recognize. Eighty pounds of guts, kidneys, and stomach fell across my chest each time a box ripped apart. We dared not stop the music of our work: the clack of a clean pine pallet, pink meat and white fat ground to a pulp, sweetened, stuffed, and crimped, the chorizo boxed, the boxes labeled, stacked, and wrapped. At lunch, I watched Guillermo hunker over the table and dig into his stew—carrots, potatoes, celery, oxtail, and gravy, made from chili peppers and fat, smoldering in a ceramic bowl. Guillermo took out a white cotton napkin and spread it evenly across his lap, picked up a piece of sourdough ripped from a loaf and soaked the bread in the stew for a long time . . . his own tired body taking back what the work took, and he ate. He sucked on chili peppers the color of blood and took another bite of the bread. He sucked out the beef from the eyes of the bones and gnawed on the soft marrow, and he drank hot coffee sweetened con canela. “Eloisa,” he said, “can cook,” and he touched the brown lace crocheted into the edge of his cotton napkin, rubbed his gut, wiped the table, and walked out to complete his work. "Oxtail Stew" by David Dominguez, from WORK DONE RIGHT by David Dominguez, copyright © 2003 David Dominguez. Used by permission of the University of Arizona Press.

This week, we’re featuring poems about food and all the many ways it sustains us. Because food is community and memory. It’s struggle, joy, and so much more. Butterby Elizabeth Alexander My mother loves butter more than I do, more than anyone. She pulls chunks off the stick and eats it plain, explaining cream spun around into butter! Growing up we ate turkey cutlets sauteed in lemon and butter, butter and cheese on green noodles, butter melting in small pools in the hearts of Yorkshire puddings, butter better than gravy staining white rice yellow, butter glazing corn in slipping squares, butter the lava in white volcanoes of hominy grits, butter softening in a white bowl to be creamed with white sugar, butter disappearing into whipped sweet potatoes, with pineapple, butter melted and curdy to pour over pancakes, butter licked off the plate with warm Alaga syrup. When I picture the good old days I am grinning greasy with my brother, having watched the tiger chase his tail and turn to butter. We are Mumbo and Jumbo’s children despite historical revision, despite our parent’s efforts, glowing from the inside out, one hundred megawatts of butter. "Butter" by Elizabeth Alexander, from CRAVE RADIANCE by Elizabeth Alexander, copyright © 2012 Elizabeth Alexander. Used by permission of Graywolf Press.

This week, we’re featuring poems about food and all the many ways it sustains us. Because food is community and memory. It’s struggle, joy, and so much more. Lesson: Chicken Soup by Christine Kitano My grandmother pours salt into my right palm, places thin slivers of garlic in my left. She explains something about blood, how to salt the raw bird to drain its fluids, but my mind already wanders: I watch the chicken shrivel but compose instead the grandfather I’ve only met in story: daybreak, he’s just finished mopping up in the buildings that sculpt this city’s skyline, but it’s someone else’s view of Los Angeles. The immigrant sees, not the postcard-perfect lights, but the scuffed tiles, dust-lined desks, the darkening throats of toilet after toilet. Home, he tiptoes upstairs not to wake his daughters, holding his shoes like a thief. He’s fired for stealing a roll of toilet paper, a can of soda for my mother. Children are nothing but trouble, my grandmother says, shaking a wooden spoon. My mother claims the story otherwise: it was she who accompanied father to work, she who stole a box of stale donuts, she who lost the family’s first job. Grandmother shrugs and repeats the same conclusion. Never have children, she says, though her expression is hidden by the steam now rising from the pot. It’s a simple recipe: boil until the meat falls from the bones, easy, like a girl shedding a summer dress. Last night, I cooked for friends. After dinner, my friend handed me his one-month son, who only bslinked when I nudged my thumb into his fist. Earlier, washing the pale bird, I struggled to keep the body from slipping through my hands: I held its small-fleshed form under cold water, pulled the giblets out the round hollow between its ribs and was surprised to be surprised when it didn’t make a sound. "Lesson: Chicken Soup" by Christine Kitano, from SKY COUNTRY by Christine Kitano, copyright © 2017 Christine Kitano. Used by permission of BOA Editions.

Today's poem is Frequently Asked Questions: #7 by Camille T. Dungy. This episode originally aired on November 12, 2019.

Today's poem is A Mother's Mouth Illuminated by Threa Almontaser.

Today's poem is poem for palm pressed upon pane by Marwa Helal.

Today's episode is The End of Science Fiction by Lisel Mueller.

Today's poem is Immigrant Picnic by Gregory Djanikian.

Today's poem is Kerosene Litany by Mahogany L. Browne. This episode originally aired December 27, 2019.

Today's poem is Mebble by Taije Silverman.

Today's poem is Wild Peaches by Elinor Wylie.

Today's poem is Before Dawn in October by Julia Kasdorf.

Today's poem is Basic Needs by Vanessa Jimenez Gabb.

Today's poem is Variations in Blue by Lauren K. Alleyne. This episode originally aired on July 15, 2019.

Today's poem is Full Capacity by Rose McLarney.

Today's poem is Ask Me Why I Love You by Walter Everette Hawkins.

Today's poem is Words Were Changing by Miller Oberman.

Today's poem is Soaking Up Sun by Tom Hennen.

Today's poem is For My People by Margaret Walker. This episode originally aired on April 1, 2020.

Today's poem is How Can Black People Write About Flowers at a Time Like This by Hanif Abdurraqib. This episode originally aired on February 14, 2020.

Today's poem is The Emperor's Deer by Kamilah Aisha Moon. This episode originally aired January 29, 2019.

Today's poem is At the Age of 18 - Ode to Girls of Color by Amanda Gorman.

Today's poem is from here i saw what happened and i cried by t'ai freedom ford. This episode originally aired on July 4, 2019.

Today's poem is We Are Not Responsible by Harryette Mullen. This episode originally aired October 31, 2019.

Today's poem is On the D Train by Jacqueline Johnson. This episode originally aired October 16, 2019.

Today's poem is The Book of Genesis by Morgan Parker.

Today's poem is Whipping Tree by Rachel Eliza Griffiths. This episode originally aired May 14, 2019.

Today's poem is Eliza Harris by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. This episode originally aired on March 13, 2020.

Today's poem is [They will tell you that I was sick, that I was a drug addict.] by Dawn Lundy Martin. This episode originally aired on November 6, 2019.

Today's poem is supply and demand by Evie Shockley. This episode originally aired on February 18, 2019.

Today's poem is American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin ["You don't seem to want it, but you wanted it"] by Terrance Hayes. This episode originally aired on April 9, 2019.

Today's poem is A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay. This episode originally aired July 10, 2019.

For the remainder of this week, we’ve chosen to replay episodes that take up questions of social justice. The outrage and heartbreak brought on by the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and other black citizens remind us that courageous dialogue about racial prejudice is critical to the survival of our culture. And we believe that poetry is a perfect vehicle for just such dialogue. -Tracy K. Smith

Today's poem is December by Cecily Parks.

Today's poem is Characters by Garous Abdolmalekian.

Today's poem is Blackbird Étude by A.E. Stallings.

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

Today's episode is Here by Grace Paley.

Today's poem is Trying to See Auras at the Airport by Angela C. Trudell Vazquez.

Today's poem is Cascades 501 by Rick Barot.

Today's poem is Kissing the Opelu by Donovan Kūhiō Colleps.

Today's poem is Once In A Lifetime, Snow by Les Murray.

Today's poem is Stop Looking At My Last Name Like That by Michael Torres.

Today's poem is Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong by Ocean Vuong

Today's poem is American Mother by Pamela Hart.

Today's poem is And We Love Life by Mahmoud Darwish.

Today's poem is A Beautiful Child by Omar Sakr.

Today's poem is Another Night at Sea Level by Meg Day.

Today's poem is an excerpt from 13th Balloon by Mark Bibbins.

Today's poem When Your Mother Asks If You're Seeing Anyone And No Longer Means A Therapist by Cindy King.

Today's poem is February & my love is in another state by José Olivarez.

Today's poem is Play Like A Boy by Sam Killmeyer.

Today's poem is Moon Pull by Carlina Duan.

Today's poem is In Perpetual Spring by Amy Gerstler.

Today's poem is The Party by Jason Shinder.

Today's poem is After the Winter by Claude McKay.

Today's poem is Tracing the Horse by Diana Marie Delgado.

Today's poem is We Always Have Been by Kim Shuck.

Today's poem is What Women Are Made Of by Bianca Lynne Spriggs.

Today's poem is I will praise your plain songs by Sarah Ruhl.

Today's poem is In Which Our Wants Are Worlds by Jasmine Reid.

Today's poem is The Singing Place by Lily A. Long.

Today's poem is After all those years of fear and raging in my poems by Toi Derricotte.

Today's poem is Wedding Poem by Ross Gay.

Today's poem is Peace Path by Heid E. Erdrich. Take a moment to slow down with family, with our kid-friendly episode list— or find an extra moment of calm with our favorite episodes on hope, kindness and more. You can also find our playlists on our website, SlowdownShow.org

We could all use an extra moment of calm right now. So we’ve compiled all of our favorite episodes of The Slowdown about hope, kindness, community (and more) into a playlist. And if you’re looking for something for your kids to do (maybe away from a screen) … we have a kid-friendly playlist too. Here's where to find both of our playlists: The Slowdown Playlist on Hope, Kindness & More: https://spoti.fi/3bKbAIU The Slowdown Poetry Playlist for Kids: https://spoti.fi/3dOGEJb You can also find both playlists on SlowdownShow.org. Take care.

Today's poem is Leaving the University Gym by Sasha Pimentel. Take a moment to slow down with family, with our kid-friendly episode list— or find an extra moment of calm with our favorite episodes on hope, kindness and more. You can also find our playlists on our website, SlowdownShow.org

Today's poem is Home by Letitia Elizabeth Landon. Take a moment to slow down with family, with our kid-friendly episode list— or find an extra moment of calm with our favorite episodes on hope, kindness and more. You can also find our playlists on our website, SlowdownShow.org

Today's poem is The Bald Truth by Bob Hicok. Take a moment to slow down with family, with our kid-friendly episode list— or find an extra moment of calm with our favorite episodes on hope, kindness and more. You can also find our playlists on our website, SlowdownShow.org

Today's poem is Song for the Festival by Gretchen Marquette. Take a moment to slow down with family, with our kid-friendly episode list— or find an extra moment of calm with our favorite episodes on hope, kindness and more. You can also find our playlists on our website, SlowdownShow.org

Today's poem is Hello by Sean Hill.

Today's poem is Naming Ceremony by Hafizah Geter.

Today's poem is Talent by Layli Long Soldier.

Today's poem is The Third Dimension by Tony Hoagland.

Today's poem is Momma Said by Candace Williams.

Today's poem is Hotel by Lorna Dee Cervantes.

Today's poem is In the House of Maria Callas by Steven Orlen.

Today's poem is For My People by Margaret Walker.

Today's poem is Interesting Times by Mark Jarman.

Today's poem is Fish Heads by R.A. Villanueva.

Today's poem is Obedience, or the Lying Tale by Jennifer Chang.

This is a special message from Tracy. It's a startling and anxious-making time, and our daily lives have been thrown into a state of upheaval. We want to hear from you. What kinds of poems would be useful for the thoughts and feelings you're living with? Reach out to us at bit.ly/slowdowncontact

Today's poem is Ikebana by Cathy Song.

Today's poem is Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand by Walt Whitman.

Today's poem is ABC for Refugees by Monica Sok. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is The Long Deployment by Jehanne Dubrow.

Today's poem is The Lovers by Timothy Liu.

Today's poem is Pale Colors in a Tall Field by Carl Phillips.

Today's poem is The Fifth Fact by Sarah Browning.

Today's poem is Paramount by Robin Coste Lewis. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is Defeat by Kahlil Gibran.

Today's poem is Eliza Harris by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

Today's poem is Spring by Rebecca Rainof. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is Premonition by Andrea Hollander.

Today's poem is Meditation on a Grapefruit by Craig Arnold. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is The Obstinate Comedy by Michelle Boisseau.

Today's poem is I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party by Chen Chen.

Today's poem is Seeing the Ocean from a Night Flight by Wang Xiaoni. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is In Defense of Small Towns by Oliver de la Paz.

Today's poem is an excerpt from Gates by Sahar Muradi. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is "Let me tell you about my marvelous god" by Susan Stewart.

Today's poem is Girls Overheard While Assembling a Puzzle by Mary Szybist.

Today's poem is Strawberries and Cream by Jeff Dolven. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is A Joke about How Old We've Become by Adam Clay.

Today's poem is Lincoln Town Car by Taylor Johnson. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is Miz Rosa Rides the Bus by Angela Jackson.

Today's poem is If You're Going to Look Like a Wolf They Have to Love You More Than They Fear You. by Abigail Chabitnoy.

Today's poem is Of Being Sick and Tired by Ama Codjoe.

Today's poem is an excerpt from Personal Effects by Solmaz Sharif.

Today's poem is Northeast Corridor by Cat Richardson. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is Inheritance by Camille Rankine.

Today's poem is How Can Black People Write About Flowers at a Time Like This by Hanif Abdurraqib.

Today's poem is A Year Dot by dg nanouk okpik.

Today's poem is Hurricane by Yona Harvey.

Today's poem is Meditation on Beauty by J. Estanislao Lopez.

Today's poem is He Dreams of Falling by Ruth Ellen Kocher.

Today's poem is I Will Love You Most When I Can Barely Remember Anything by William Evans.

Today's poem is Domestic by Deborah Landau. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is Abeyance by Rebecca Foust.

Today's poem is Return by Gala Mukomolova. This episode features guest host Jenny Xie.

Today's poem is Listen, by Barbara Crooker.

Today's poem is Mother Mind by Julia Ward Howe.

Today's poem is Ships That Pass in the Night by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

Note: The audio of today’s episode features an incomplete version of Joseph Stroud’s poem. It will be updated. The full text of the poem is available on slowdownshow.org; we regret the omission. Today's poem is Let Me Tell You by Joseph Stroud.

Today's poem is Pomegranate Means Grenade by Jamaal May.

Today's poem is Essay on Reentry by Reginald Dwayne Betts.

Today's poem is Wake Up by Carl Phillips.

Today's poem is Baby & I by Shira Erlichman.

Today's poem is Telling My Father by James Crews.

Today's poem is Swimming in the Rain by Chana Bloch.

Today's poem is Confession by Leila Chatti.

Today's poem is Privacy by Lee Upton.

Today's poem is Weight by John Freeman.

Today's poem is Snow-flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Today's poem is The Clock by Victoria Chang.

Today's poem is Making Zelnik at the Sibling Reunion by Karen Paul Holmes.

Today's poem is Voice by Kory Wells.

Today's poem is The Cup by C.K. Williams.

Today's poem is Sitting Down to Breakfast Alone by Christian Wiman.

Today's poem is Remember by Joy Harjo.

Today's poem is Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.

Today's poem is The Birds of New York by Francisco X. Alarcón.

Today's poem is The Traveling Onion by Naomi Shihab Nye.

Today's poem is On the Turning of the Year by Karen An-Hwei Lee.

Today's poem is Prayer On Aladdin's Lamp by Marcus Wicker. This episode originally aired Dec. 19, 2018.

Today's poem is How We Programmed the Apocalypse by Zoë Hitzig.

Today's poem is Kerosene Litany by Mahogany L. Browne.

Today's poem is Holy by Nancy Krygowski.

Today's poem is When Giving Is All We Have by Alberto Ríos.

Today's poem is Waiting for Happiness by Nomi Stone.

Today's poem is Penalty Shot by Ishion Hutchinson.

Today's poem is Outside my Harlem Window by Lauren Whitehead.

Today's poem is an excerpt from Nature Poem by Tommy Pico.

Today's poem is Thanks by W.S. Merwin.

Today's poem is Assail As Sail Ails As by Dora Malech.

Today's poem is Interrogation Suite: Where did you come from / how did you arrive? by Remica Bingham-Risher.

Today's poem is What a Cyborg Wants by Franny Choi.

Today's poem is Initial Encounter with Locals by Hai-Dang Phan.

Today's poem is What Begets What Begets by Rio Cortez.

Today's poem is Double Dutch by Gregory Pardlo.

Today's poem is Sunlight and Chilies by Vandana Khanna.

Today's poem is When I Am Six by Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

Today's poem is For a Lost Fragment by Carol Moldaw.

Today's poem is Gate C22 by Ellen Bass.

Today's poem is Fly in Our Salad by Gary Whitehead.

Today's poem is After You Get Up Early On Memorial Day by Susanna Lang.

Today's poem is Amores Perros by Angela Narciso Torres.

Today's poem is Sleeping with the Chihuahua by Tami Haaland.

Today's poem is Her Daughter's Eyes by Luci Tapahonso.

Today's poem is The Season of Phantasmal Peace by Dereck Walcott.

Today's poem is Cancer by Su Hwang.

Today's poem is Morning by Adam Zagajewski.

Today's poem is Opus from Space by Pattiann Rogers.

Today's poem is song: for my high school sweetheart by Yaya Yao.

Today's poem is Eros the Contagion by Annie Kim.

Today's poem is Afterwords by Mark Strand.

Today's poem is The Old Country by Karina Borowicz.

Today's poem is So Much Happiness by Naomi Shihab Nye.

Today's poem is The Voyage Nowhere by Jennifer Soong.

Today's poem is Frequently Asked Questions: #7 by Camille T. Dungy.

Today's poem is Feet by Alan Shapiro.

Today's poem is Passage by Joseph Stroud.

Today's poem is Hospital Linens by Marianne Boruch.

Today's poem is [They will tell you that I was sick, that I was a drug addict.] by Dawn Lundy Martin.

Today's poem is Tide Pool by John Balaban.

Today's poem is On Election Day by Charles Bernstein.

Today's poem is Push the Week by Jackie Kay.

Today's poem is We Are Not Responsible by Harryette Mullen.

Today's poem is My Aunts by Meghan O'Rourke.

Today's poem is Falling from the Roof of the Free World by Willa Carroll.

Today's poem is Lisle, Illinois, November 1972 by Robin Silbergleid.

Today's poem is Processional by Joanna Klink. Support our show today: slowdownshow.org/donate.

Today's poem is Elegy for Almost by Rebecca Lehmann. Support our show today: slowdownshow.org/donate.

Today's poem is Cindy Comes To Hear Me Read by Jill McDonough. Support our show today: slowdownshow.org/donate.

Today's poem is Workshop by Jacob Shores-Arguello. Support our show today: slowdownshow.org/donate.

Today's poem is Polaroid Ode by Cori Winrock. Support our show today: slowdownshow.org/donate.

Today's poem is Body and Soul by Charles Wright.

Today's poem is Last Kiss by Jane Ebihara.

Today's poem is On the D Train by Jacqueline Johnson.

Today's poem is My Embodiment by Craig Morgan Teicher.

Today's poem is My Grandmother's Love Letters by Hart Crane.

Today's poem is My Mother of Invention by Michael Collier.

Today's poem is Pig by Henri Cole.

Today's poem is Hair by Clarence Major.

Note: This poem contains an instance of explicit language. Today's poem is Club Icarus by Matt Miller. This episode features guest host Brenda Shaughnessy; Tracy K. Smith returns this week.

Note: This poem contains an instance of explicit language. Today's poem is No War by Mariam Fayez. This episode features guest host Tina Chang; Tracy K. Smith returns this week.

Today's poem is The Government Has Been Canceled by Maya Catherine Popa.

Today's poem is Birthday Poem by Paisley Rekdal.

Today's poem is sorrows by Lucille Clifton.

Today's poem is The opposite of the ocean is no ocean. by Cathy Linh Che.

Today's poem is enough food and a mom by Francine J. Harris.

Today's poem is Through a Glass though Which We Cannot See by Lo Kwa Mei-en. This episode features guest host Brenda Shaughnessy.

Today's poem is Personals by C.D. Wright. This episode features guest host Brenda Shaughnessy.

Today's poem is Enough by Suzanne Buffam. This episode features guest host Brenda Shaughnessy.

Today's poem is Essay on Wood by James Richardson. This episode features guest host Brenda Shaughnessy.

Today's poem is The Wooden Overcoat by Rick Barot. This episode features guest host Brenda Shaughnessy.

Today's poem is Even The Rain by Agha Shahid Ali.

Today's poem is The Barbarians Are Coming by Marilyn Chin. This episode features guest host Tina Chang.

Today's poem is Closure by Paul Tran.

Today's poem is Drip by Quenton Baker.

Today's poem is One Is One by Marie Ponsot.

Today's poem is Anemoia by Keetje Kuipers. This episode features guest host Tina Chang.

Today's poem is Discovery by Natalie Scenters-Zapico. This episode features guest host Tina Chang.

Today's poem is Killdeer by Nick Flynn. This episode features guest host Tina Chang.

Today's poem is Parable for Refugees by Ladan Osman. This episode features guest host Tina Chang.

Today's poem is Marriage by Sarah Gambito. This episode features guest host Tina Chang.

Today's poem is Music from Childhood by John Yau.

Today's poem is Remember What I Came Here to Do to This World Very Little Actually by Alice Notley.

Today's poem is Sister as Moving Object by Jan Beatty.

Today's poem is Losers by Jay Bernard.

Today's poem is Freeway 280 by Lorna Dee Cervantes.

Today's poem is Left to ask by Michael Klein.