697 episodes
1560: Gratification to the survivors of daily damnations by Oladejo Abdullah Feranmi
07/16/2026 | 5 mins.Today’s poem is Gratification to the survivors of daily damnations by Oladejo Abdullah Feranmi.
Sharing poetry is a two-way street. So today, you'll be hearing a poem selected by one of our listeners. Today’s selection was submitted by Abdulmueed from Oyo, Nigeria.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Abdulmueed reflects… “Today's poem is an invitation for you to live more freely. The poem urges us to take a pause in our day-to-day activities to reflect on our lives, to look around us, experience the little things despite all odds.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners.
Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate.
If you’d like to participate in the next round of Community Selections, sign up for our newsletter. We’ll be sending a special Slowdown postcard to new subscribers that sign up this week. Subscribe at slowdownshow.org/newsletter.- Today’s poem is Florida Doll Sonnet by Denise Duhamel and Maureen Seaton.
Sharing poetry is a two-way street. So today, you'll be hearing a poem selected by one of our listeners. Today’s selection was submitted by J.D. from Texas.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, J.D. reflects… “Today's poem is a cheeky tableau of a grocery store where we get to see what we present to the world, but also what the world presents to us.”
This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate.
If you’d like to participate in the next round of Community Selections, sign up for our newsletter. We’ll be sending a special Slowdown postcard to new subscribers that sign up this week. Subscribe at slowdownshow.org/newsletter. - Today’s poem is Late Work by Andrés Cerpa.
Sharing poetry is a two-way street. So today, you'll be hearing a poem selected by one of our listeners. Today’s selection was submitted by Meghan from Pennsylvania.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Meghan reflects… “Today's poem is determined to be hopeful in a way, and it's a kind of hope that seems to exist among all of it.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate
If you’d like to participate in the next round of Community Selections, sign up for our newsletter. We’ll be sending a special Slowdown postcard to new subscribers that sign up this week. Subscribe at slowdownshow.org/newsletter. - Today’s poem is All Trains Are Going Local by Timothy Liu.
Sharing poetry is a two-way street. So today, you'll be hearing a poem selected by one of our listeners. Today’s selection was submitted by Prerna from Assam, India.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Prerna reflects… “Today's poem takes me back to the timelessness of the pandemic. After reading this poem, I started my own little newsletter for my friends, which is named after this poem actually. I started it thinking if nothing else, if I have nothing else going in my life and I forget today from tomorrow, at least there'll be this particular day in the month that I will have to sit down and think, ‘So what did I do last month? What did I listen to? What did I read? What the hell happened to my plants?’”
This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate
If you’d like to participate in the next round of Community Selections, sign up for our newsletter. We’ll be sending a special Slowdown postcard to new subscribers that sign up this week. Subscribe at slowdownshow.org/newsletter - Today’s poem is Articulation of Solace by Yongyu Chen.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’ve read a lot of books over the years, and some have fundamentally changed not only the way I write but the way I think. I mean books that broke everything wide open for me, showing me possibilities — in form, and in content — that I couldn’t access before. Today’s poem impacted me like those beloved texts, with its jewellike sentences and its use of the field of the page.”
This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Power your daily dose of poetry at 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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