The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

By American Public Media

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Subscribers: 750
Reviews: 6
Episodes: 399

Ligma
 Jan 24, 2023


 Aug 4, 2022


 Dec 4, 2021

joel
 Mar 27, 2020
Love it. I find listening to it before my day begins to be a great way to start the day.


 Jan 30, 2020

Description

Poet Major Jackson is your guide on the pathways to feel and understand our common journey – through poetry. In sharing poems, we take a moment to pause and acknowledge the world’s magnitude, and how poets illuminate that mystery. Join The Slowdown for a poem and a moment of reflection in one short episode, every weekday. Produced by APM Studios in partnership with The Poetry Foundation and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. Make us a part of your routine as you drink coffee in the morning, as you take a walk in nature, or as you wind down to go to sleep in the evening. With host Major Jackson, we collectively take a moment to calm, to inspire, to learn, and to engage with the best emerging poets and established writers of our time and generations past, from Emily Dickinson to Danez Smith, from Amanda Gorman to Mary Oliver.

Listen to our back catalog for episodes by our previous hosts, Tracy K. Smith and Ada Limón, as well as guest hosts Jenny Xie, Brenda Shaughnessy, Tina Chang, Nate Marshall, Shira Erlichiman, and Jason Schneiderman. Our hosts and production team select poems that move them, and we hope they move you, too.

Episode Date
1084: Mahmoud by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat, translated by Fady Joudah
Mar 28, 2024
1083: first person by Ed Roberson
Mar 27, 2024
1082: A Certain Light by Marie Howe
Mar 26, 2024
1081: The Leaving by Brigit Pegeen Kelly
Mar 25, 2024
1080: Dream Song 14 by John Berryman
Mar 22, 2024
1079: Cassandra by Sasha West
Mar 21, 2024
1078: Ferment by Monica Rico
Mar 20, 2024
1077: “Something About…” by Peter Kahn
Mar 19, 2024
1076: a story from the eighties by Debra Marquart
Mar 18, 2024
1075: Translation by Anne Spencer
Mar 15, 2024
1074: My Father and I Drive to St. Louis for His Mother's Funeral and the Wildflowers by Chaun Ballard
Mar 14, 2024
1073: Great Question by Lisa Olstein
Mar 13, 2024
1072: Under the Bed by Kirun Kapur
Mar 12, 2024
1071: Ode to the Idea of France by Dan Alter
Mar 11, 2024
1070: Thirteen by Anna V.Q. Ross
Mar 08, 2024
1069: An Exchange by Corey Marks
Mar 07, 2024
1068: Fish Pier, Santa Monica by Vernon Duke
Mar 06, 2024
1067: blues-elegy for cheryl by Evie Shockley
Mar 05, 2024
1066: Casual Labor by Sandy Solomon
Mar 04, 2024
1065: First of March by Stacie Cassarino
Mar 01, 2024
1064: Dry Spell by Lisa Sewell
Feb 29, 2024
1063: Love Poem by Sophie Cabot Black
Feb 28, 2024
1062: A Response to the Misguided Student by Wesley Rothman
Feb 27, 2024
1061: Mirror, Mirror by Tom Healy
Feb 26, 2024
[encore] 996: Portable Paradise
Feb 23, 2024
[encore] 1008: Kinds of Silence
Feb 22, 2024
[encore] 923: A Funeral Ending with Beyoncé
Feb 21, 2024
[encore] 990: Feeding the Koi
Feb 20, 2024
[encore] 929: this is a library
Feb 19, 2024
[encore] 966: Love Poem, with Birds
Feb 16, 2024
[encore] 955: Love Sits by My Father
Feb 15, 2024
[encore] 807: Short Essay on Love
Feb 14, 2024
[encore] 1003: Without Name
Feb 13, 2024
[encore] 917: Love and the Deli Counter
Feb 12, 2024
1060: Perhaps
Feb 09, 2024
1059: Love and the Moon
Feb 08, 2024
1058: The Dangers of Contemplation
Feb 07, 2024
1057: Facebook Status
Feb 06, 2024
1056: Ghazal for Mothers & Tongues
Feb 05, 2024
1055: Dancing at The Get Down by Cat Wei
Feb 02, 2024
1054: Hunger
Feb 01, 2024
1053: Why Write Love Poetry in a Burning World
Jan 31, 2024
1052: Body's Ken
Jan 30, 2024
1051: Venus's Flytraps
Jan 29, 2024
1050: To The Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall
Jan 26, 2024
1049: [I wandered lonely as a Cloud] or Daffodils
Jan 25, 2024
1048: You & the Donkey Cart
Jan 24, 2024
1047: To The Stone-Cutters
Jan 23, 2024
1046: After, We Try to Switch Our Hearts Back On
Jan 22, 2024
1045: Sonnet for Ochún
Jan 19, 2024
1044: Mixed Marriage
Jan 18, 2024
1043: from “Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return” by CAConrad
Jan 17, 2024
1042: Ode to Badminton
Jan 16, 2024
1041: By Then
Jan 15, 2024
1040: The Idea of Order at Key West
Jan 12, 2024
1039: What Good Is Silence
Jan 11, 2024
[encore] 877: The Lifeline
Jan 10, 2024
1038: The Book of Barely Imagined Beings
Jan 09, 2024
1037: An Open Call to Single Daughters of Single Mothers
Jan 08, 2024
1036: Pleasure
Jan 05, 2024
1035: The Darkling Thrush
Jan 04, 2024
1034: Cliché
Jan 03, 2024
1033: On Meeting My Biological Father
Jan 02, 2024
1032: Counting, This New Year’s Morning, What Powers Yet Remain To Me
Jan 01, 2024
1031: Objects in the Mirror are Closer Than They Appear
Dec 29, 2023
1030: Fourth Wall Arpeggio
Dec 28, 2023
1029: If I Told Him, A Completed Portrait of Picasso
Dec 27, 2023
1028: Yet, the Loveliness
Dec 26, 2023
1027: The Memory of the Young
Dec 25, 2023
1026: Ode to Bones
Dec 22, 2023
1025: I Am Trying to Love the Whole World
Dec 21, 2023
1024: Ashes
Dec 20, 2023
1023: Hurrying Toward the Present
Dec 19, 2023
1022: Two Shadows
Dec 18, 2023
1021: Making Things
Dec 15, 2023
1020: Ithaka
Dec 14, 2023
1019: Ambition
Dec 13, 2023
1018: Cuffing Season
Dec 12, 2023
1017: Parallel Worlds
Dec 11, 2023
1016: In the Seam of Life
Dec 08, 2023
1015: Death Letter #2
Dec 07, 2023
1014: Date
Dec 06, 2023
1013: Reading Poetry in Illness
Dec 05, 2023
1012: Morning Glory
Dec 04, 2023
1011: Bloodroot
Dec 01, 2023
1010: Self-care Bucket List
Nov 30, 2023
1009: Teleology
Nov 29, 2023
1008: Kinds of Silence
Nov 28, 2023
1007: To Do: Write Cephalopod Poem
Nov 27, 2023
1006: Something Sweet
Nov 24, 2023
1005: eco-hood
Nov 23, 2023
1004: What to Do With the Hedges
Nov 22, 2023
1003: Without Name
Nov 21, 2023
1002: Secular and Inconsolable
Nov 20, 2023
1001: To the bartender who tends to more than just the bar
Nov 17, 2023
1000: I Hear America Singing
Nov 16, 2023
999: clap-on
Nov 15, 2023
998: A Computerized Jet Fountain in the Detroit Metro Airport
Nov 14, 2023
997: Letter to the Editor
Nov 13, 2023
996: A Portable Paradise
Nov 10, 2023
995: Dear—,
Nov 09, 2023
994: ACT! pose with fingers as though cigarette (puff puff)
Nov 08, 2023
993: Bundt Cake from Sam's Club
Nov 07, 2023
992: Imago
Nov 06, 2023
991: Googling Ourselves
Nov 03, 2023
990: Feeding the Koi
Nov 02, 2023
989: Signs, Music
Nov 01, 2023
988: Hillwood
Oct 31, 2023
987: Totalitarian
Oct 30, 2023
986: EGGSHELLS
Oct 27, 2023
985: Might Kindred
Oct 26, 2023
984: Poem at the Top of a Mountain
Oct 25, 2023
983: Things Haunt
Oct 24, 2023
982: Rain
Oct 23, 2023
981: Through a closed mouth the flies enter
Oct 20, 2023
980: Villanelle
Oct 19, 2023
979: The Listening World
Oct 18, 2023
978: And the Beautiful
Oct 17, 2023
977: sights and sounds on my way to you
Oct 16, 2023
976: Wonder Wheel
Oct 13, 2023
975: Love after Love
Oct 12, 2023
974: Did you want to come in?
Oct 11, 2023
973: Sword Swallowing Lessons
Oct 10, 2023
972: Light Upon The Body
Oct 09, 2023
[encore] 936: Voyeuristic Intentions
Oct 06, 2023
[encore] 929: this is a library
Oct 05, 2023
[encore] 909: My Dearest Black-Billed Streamertail
Oct 04, 2023
[encore] 935: Happy Campus
Oct 03, 2023
[encore] 904: The Statues and Us
Oct 02, 2023
971: On Mars
Sep 29, 2023
970: Ungendered 2
Sep 28, 2023
969: Us
Sep 27, 2023
968: The Long Goodbye
Sep 26, 2023
967: Ode to Purple Summer
Sep 25, 2023
[encore] 806: Polycardial
Sep 22, 2023
[encore] 822: Cricket Song
Sep 21, 2023
[encore] 804: Foxglove
Sep 20, 2023
[encore] 870: Hymn to Church Basements
Sep 19, 2023
[encore] 812: September
Sep 18, 2023
966: Love Poem, with Birds
Sep 15, 2023
965: from "Excess Sonnets"
Sep 14, 2023
964: abundance of light
Sep 13, 2023
963: Frederick Douglass
Sep 12, 2023
962: Afternoon in Andalusia
Sep 11, 2023
961: Nocturne
Sep 08, 2023
960: I’m Nobody! Who are you? (260)
Sep 07, 2023
959: On Earth
Sep 06, 2023
958: Alain Locke in Stoughton Hall
Sep 05, 2023
957: Rooms by the Sea
Sep 04, 2023
956: Hair
Sep 01, 2023
955: Love Sits by My Father
Aug 31, 2023
954: In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa
Aug 30, 2023
953: Two Photographs
Aug 29, 2023
952: Failed Essay on Privilege
Aug 28, 2023
951: I wanted music
Aug 25, 2023
950: from FIXER
Aug 24, 2023
949: Thirty-Fifth Year
Aug 23, 2023
948: Willing in the Orisha
Aug 22, 2023
947: Famous
Aug 21, 2023
946: Crackerbell
Aug 18, 2023
945: The Jungle
Aug 17, 2023
944: Sonnet written walking under the mess some magnolia made
Aug 16, 2023
943: The Dictator in Prison
Aug 15, 2023
942: Very Large Moth
Aug 14, 2023
941: After We Buried The Dog In The Dark
Aug 11, 2023
940: Survivor
Aug 10, 2023
939: A Guy in a Black SUV
Aug 09, 2023
938: Sorcery
Aug 08, 2023
937: While Shaving
Aug 07, 2023
936: Voyeuristic Intentions
Aug 04, 2023
935: Happy Campus
Aug 03, 2023
934: Labor Theory of Value
Aug 02, 2023
933: Penmanship
Aug 01, 2023
932: Letter to my sister
Jul 31, 2023
931: Epilogue
Jul 28, 2023
930: elegy for the moaner, 2016
Jul 27, 2023
929: this is a library
Jul 26, 2023
928: Prayer
Jul 25, 2023
927: Via Politica
Jul 24, 2023
926: from "The Garden of Limbs"
Jul 21, 2023
925: Country of Water
Jul 20, 2023
924: Theme for the nautical cowboy
Jul 19, 2023
923: A Funeral Ending with Beyoncé
Jul 18, 2023
922: Not It
Jul 17, 2023
921: Dear Red
Jul 14, 2023
920: Invented Landscape
Jul 13, 2023
919: Take This Poem
Jul 12, 2023
918: Vision from the Blue Plane-Window
Jul 11, 2023
917: Love and the Deli Counter
Jul 10, 2023
916: from "fabula: towards a black mirror”
Jul 07, 2023
915: Who Among You Knows the Essence of Garlic?
Jul 06, 2023
914: Voices of the Air
Jul 05, 2023
913: America, I Do Not Call Your Name without Hope
Jul 04, 2023
912: Poem
Jul 03, 2023
911: The Messenger
Jun 30, 2023
910: How Long Could I Have Been Weightless?
Jun 29, 2023
909: My Dearest Black-Billed Streamertail
Jun 28, 2023
908: After the Farm was Sold to FedEx
Jun 27, 2023
907: A State of Permanent Visibility
Jun 26, 2023
906: Self-Portrait as Derivatives Trader
Jun 23, 2023
905: Voyeur
Jun 22, 2023
904: The Statues and Us
Jun 21, 2023
903: Boy Shooting at a Statue
Jun 20, 2023
902: Morning in a City
Jun 19, 2023
901: The Poet
Jun 16, 2023
900: In An Elevator with Ashbery, Crossing Stanzas, Bashfully
Jun 15, 2023
899: Areyto for the Shipwrecked: The Case for Spanglish
Jun 14, 2023
898: from THIRSTY
Jun 13, 2023
897: Emptying
Jun 12, 2023
896: Portrait of My Father With the Letter V
Jun 09, 2023
895: Burnt Plastic
Jun 08, 2023
894: Part
Jun 07, 2023
893: To the Friend Who Is Crying on the Phone
Jun 06, 2023
892: in the dormitories after dark
Jun 05, 2023
891: Uh Huh: Hi, Hula Tooth
Jun 02, 2023
890: Simulation Theory by Leigh Stein
Jun 01, 2023
889: Short Talk on Waterproofing by Anne Carson
May 31, 2023
888: Sorrow Is Innate in the Human
May 30, 2023
887: Where are the girls who were so beautiful? from “33”
May 29, 2023
886: Stereo
May 26, 2023
885: Dear Past and Future Metastasis,
May 25, 2023
884: He Laughed With A Laugh
May 24, 2023
883: Extreme Close-up
May 23, 2023
882: The Pathology of Currency
May 22, 2023
881: She Loves Me, She Love Me Not
May 19, 2023
880: The Figure of a Man Being Swallowed by a Fish
May 18, 2023
879: For the Poet Who Is Your High School English Teacher
May 17, 2023
878: This Is My Vow
May 16, 2023
877: The Lifeline
May 15, 2023
876: Nowhere Else to Go
May 12, 2023
875: Olympians vs. Modernity
May 11, 2023
874: Ozymandias
May 10, 2023
873: Occasional Poem
May 09, 2023
872: Jabberwocky
May 08, 2023
871: Flesh (“You in your ecstasy of coffee”)
May 05, 2023
870: Hymn to Church Basements
May 04, 2023
869: Ethnic Arithmetic
May 03, 2023
868: The Half-Finished Heaven
May 02, 2023
867: Four-in-Hand
May 01, 2023
866: Tea with Ann
Apr 28, 2023
865: Worry (the Dybbuk)
Apr 27, 2023
864: To the Buyer of Our Old Home
Apr 26, 2023
863: La Peste
Apr 25, 2023
862: Last Night I Had Such Good Dreams
Apr 24, 2023
861: Apologia
Apr 21, 2023
860: Learning Money in Reverse
Apr 20, 2023
859: Diving at Blue Hole
Apr 19, 2023
858: from BOOK OF THE OTHER
Apr 18, 2023
857: And Everywhere Offering Human Sound
Apr 17, 2023
856: The "I Want" Song
Apr 14, 2023
855: Placebo
Apr 13, 2023
854: To be brave, I look to the daffodil
Apr 12, 2023
853: from LET IT BE BROKE
Apr 11, 2023
852: Forestbathing (or Trees)
Apr 10, 2023
851: I Was Wrong About So Much
Apr 07, 2023
850: Split
Apr 06, 2023
849: If There Is Another World
Apr 05, 2023
848: Six for Gold
Apr 04, 2023
847: Liturgy for Family Circles
Apr 03, 2023
846: Some Madness There
Mar 31, 2023
845: Dear Future Me (#12)
Mar 30, 2023
844: A Ruin
Mar 29, 2023
843: Family Court
Mar 28, 2023
842: Zelda Fitzgerald
Mar 27, 2023
841: The Whole World is the Best Land I Ever Lived
Mar 24, 2023
840: Agoraphobia
Mar 23, 2023
839: Pietà by Michelangelo: Marble, 1499
Mar 22, 2023
838: The Truth
Mar 21, 2023
837: Fire Destroys Beloved Chicago Bakery
Mar 20, 2023
836: A City Like a Guillotine Shivers on Its Way to the Neck
Mar 17, 2023
835: "anyone can be beautiful:
Mar 16, 2023
834: Two Boys Ago
Mar 15, 2023
833: The Railroad Worm
Mar 14, 2023
832: The Illiterate
Mar 13, 2023
831: Panama Hat
Mar 10, 2023
830: What's Been Caged
Mar 09, 2023
829: Don't Touch
Mar 08, 2023
828: Against Poetry
Mar 07, 2023
827: Naming the Waves
Mar 06, 2023
826: How
Mar 03, 2023
825: Hotter Than July
Mar 02, 2023
824: Head of Anahit / British Museum
Mar 01, 2023
823: Salmon
Feb 28, 2023
822: Cricket Song
Feb 27, 2023
821: I Have No Idea What's Going to Happen
Feb 24, 2023
820: Jesus Saves
Feb 23, 2023
819: Egrets (in memory of Barry Lopez)
Feb 22, 2023
818: Everything Lies in All Directions
Feb 21, 2023
817: Context is all
Feb 20, 2023
816: The Freeways Considered As Earth Gods
Feb 17, 2023
815: My Mother Talks to Her Son About Her Heart
Feb 16, 2023
814: on persona
Feb 15, 2023
813: Forgiveness, Perhaps
Feb 14, 2023
812: September
Feb 13, 2023
811: Possum
Feb 10, 2023
810: There Is No Touchdown Here, Belichick
Feb 09, 2023
809: A Statement from No One, Incorporated
Feb 08, 2023
808: Birds in Home Depot—December
Feb 07, 2023
807: Short Essay on Love
Feb 06, 2023
806: Polycardial
Feb 03, 2023
805: Discourse
Feb 02, 2023
804: Foxglove
Feb 01, 2023
803: In Light of Stars
Jan 31, 2023
802: Heirloom
Jan 30, 2023
801: Landscape with Things
Jan 27, 2023
800: We Wear the Mask
Jan 26, 2023
799: Fragment (Stone)
Jan 25, 2023
798: Improvement
Jan 24, 2023
797: Night Terrors in America
Jan 23, 2023
[encore] 740: Shucking Oysters
Jan 20, 2023
[encore] 552: Hammond B3 Organ Cistern
Jan 19, 2023
[encore] 630: Don't Think
Jan 18, 2023
[encore] 691: Final Poem for the "Field of Poetry"
Jan 17, 2023
[encore] 570: Asking About My Mother
Jan 16, 2023
[encore] 696: Reading Szymborska at Friday Harbor
Jan 13, 2023
Returning with new host Major Jackson
Jan 12, 2023
[encore] 581: Red-ish Brown-ish
Jan 12, 2023
[encore] 625: Not everything is a poem
Jan 11, 2023
796: It Must Be The Supermarket in Me
Jan 10, 2023
[encore] 643: Eventually / One Point Where We Arrive
Jan 09, 2023
[encore] 719: Museum of Sex
Jan 06, 2023
[encore] 555: Private Property
Jan 05, 2023
[encore] 772: On Friendship
Jan 04, 2023
[encore] 513: Romantics
Jan 03, 2023
[encore] 769: Meeting at an Airport
Jan 02, 2023
[encore] 739: Cherry Blossoms
Dec 30, 2022
[encore] 573: Bury Me in the Woods of My Childhood
Dec 29, 2022
[encore] 562: The Lonely Humans
Dec 28, 2022
[encore] 685: Trees at Night
Dec 27, 2022
[encore] 576: Taking Down the Tree
Dec 26, 2022
[encore] 627: Don't Say Love Just Signal
Dec 23, 2022
[encore] 584: Marte
Dec 22, 2022
[encore] 699: Photosynthesis
Dec 21, 2022
[encore] 567: Besaydoo
Dec 20, 2022
[encore] 511: Present Tense
Dec 19, 2022
[encore] 575: How I Learned Bliss
Dec 16, 2022
[encore] 622: Self-Portrait With Woman On The Subway
Dec 15, 2022
[encore] 692: Other Women's Babies
Dec 14, 2022
[encore] 547: Travel
Dec 13, 2022
[encore] 665: Metro-North
Dec 12, 2022
[encore] 559: Parable of Childhood
Dec 09, 2022
[encore] 649: sunrise through mount vernon, wa.
Dec 08, 2022
[encore] 654: In the End You Get Everything Back (Liza Minnelli)
Dec 07, 2022
[encore] 717: Afterlife with a Gentle Afterward
Dec 06, 2022
[encore] 509: Wondrous
Dec 05, 2022
[encore] 705: The Bats
Dec 02, 2022
[encore] 634: Nest
Dec 01, 2022
[encore] 519: Missing Cat
Nov 30, 2022
[encore] 618: Elegy for Kentucky
Nov 29, 2022
[encore] 651: Training
Nov 28, 2022
[encore] 689: Alive at the End of the World
Nov 25, 2022
[encore] 523: Our Valley
Nov 24, 2022
[encore] 508: Rehearsal for the New World
Nov 23, 2022
[encore] 673: New Town
Nov 22, 2022
[encore] 521: Invocation
Nov 21, 2022
[encore] 662: To Be in Love
Nov 18, 2022
[encore] 612: After the Fire
Nov 17, 2022
[encore] 549: Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem
Nov 16, 2022
[encore] 534: The moon rose over the bay. I had a lot of feelings.
Nov 15, 2022
[encore] 648: Love is a Luminous Insect at the Window
Nov 14, 2022
[encore] 644: Georgia O'Keeffe, "From the Faraway, Nearby," 1937
Nov 11, 2022
[encore] 611: During the Pandemic I Listen to the July 26, 1965, Juan-les-Pins Recording of A Love Supreme
Nov 10, 2022
[encore] 646: every exquisite thing
Nov 09, 2022
[encore] 595: Pegasus Autopsy
Nov 08, 2022
[encore] 615: The Studio
Nov 07, 2022
[encore] 629: Halfway
Nov 04, 2022
[encore] 683: I Have a Rendezvous With Life
Nov 03, 2022
[encore] 518: Metamorphosis: The Female Into
Nov 02, 2022
636: How to Hold the Heavy Weight of Now
Nov 01, 2022
795: The End of Poetry
Oct 31, 2022
794: High Fidelity
Oct 28, 2022
793: Children Listen
Oct 27, 2022
792: Trash
Oct 26, 2022
791: Love Poem
Oct 25, 2022
790: Anxiety checks her phone again
Oct 24, 2022
789: hoop snake
Oct 21, 2022
788: John Muir, A Dream, A Waterfall, A Mountain Ash
Oct 20, 2022
787: The Orange
Oct 19, 2022
786: Compassion Comes Late
Oct 18, 2022
785: Magdalene—The Seven Devils
Oct 17, 2022
784: Sex Without Love
Oct 14, 2022
783: The Beginning of the Beginning
Oct 13, 2022
782: The Strength of U
Oct 12, 2022
781: Cut Apple
Oct 11, 2022
780: Edward Hopper Study: Hotel Room
Oct 10, 2022
779: My Rock
Oct 07, 2022
778: Batter My Heart, Transgender'd God
Oct 06, 2022
777: The Lightkeeper
Oct 05, 2022
776: Bonfire Brides
Oct 04, 2022
775: A Case Study of Beethoven's Nine Symphonies
Oct 03, 2022
774: Uncertainty Principle at Dawn
Sep 30, 2022
773: The Dead Are Beautiful Tonight
Sep 29, 2022
772: On Friendship
Sep 28, 2022
771: Your Damage
Sep 27, 2022
770: And
Sep 26, 2022
769: Meeting at an Airport
Sep 23, 2022
768: Lately I Am Trying
Sep 22, 2022
767: Love Poem
Sep 21, 2022
766: All I Know
Sep 20, 2022