The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Today’s poem is Hares by Angela Ball. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Sometimes I read or listen to a poem, and I’m absolutely charmed — seduced — by the sentences: the way they move across the lines, like a river moving around a bend, breaking around stones. Sometimes I marvel at the word choices, at the sounds, at the way a narrative unfolds.”This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

Maggie Smith reflects on how writing keeps revealing new meanings, then connects divorce’s unseen dread to the shark in Jaws and even a set of wedding dishes. Ellie Black’s poem follows a speaker confronting an intelligent, hidden shark that returns in a cycle of vulnerability, self-defeat, and survival.

Today’s poem is The Grass Could Be Yours by Emily Lee Luan. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Feeling at home somewhere new is surreal. Surreal and comfortable. Freeing, in a way. I’m not where the memories of my life took place, but because of the landscape, and the people, my senses feel at home. And so my memories seem to be at home, too.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. slowdownshow.org/donate

A Halloween poem unfolds through Memphis streets where candy, costumes, abandoned pumpkins, and gunfire collide. Playful revelry turns menacing as witches, folklore, commercial spectacle, and hidden fears enter the scene. The speaker watches from an unlit porch, embodying Halloween’s strangeness through improvised family costumes and a refusal to explain.

Today’s poem is Night of the Living, Night of the Dead by Kim Addonizio.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “It might surprise you to know that one of my favorite genres is the zombie movie. I like my zombies fast, like in ‘Train to Busan’ and ‘28 Days Later,’ and I like my zombies slow, like in the old classics directed by George Romero. In ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ the zombies shamble so slowly, people can run right by them. They seem unable to figure out doorknobs and fence latches and cars. It’s black-and-white, so the gore isn’t that gory: the blood and guts are gray, after all! It’s still scary, though—because the zombies are seemingly uncontainable. They just keep coming at you. Today’s poem has been a favorite of mine for years, and it seemed like the right choice for Halloween.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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

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

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

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

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