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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

    1350: [encore] Real Estate by Richard Siken

    10/22/2026 | 5 mins.
    Today’s poem is Real Estate by Richard Siken.

    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem unpacks some of what happens when families change, because of death or divorce or other upheavals. I admire the way it looks not only at the variables—what must necessarily change—but also at the constants.”

    This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. Slowdownshow.org/donate
  • The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

    1349: [encore] Sati by Vandana Khanna

    10/21/2026 | 6 mins.
    Today’s poem is Sati by Vandana Khanna.

    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is a persona poem from the point of view of a Hindu goddess, Sati. The practice of a widow throwing herself on her husband’s funeral pyre is named after Sati, who, in this poem, gets to speak. I think you’ll be moved by what she has to say.”

    This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. Slowdownshow.org/donate
  • The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

    1345: [encore] Arrangements by Adrienne Chung

    10/20/2026 | 5 mins.
    Today’s poem is Arrangements by Adrienne Chung.

    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem speaks to the things we are drawn to, and to the compromises that must happen when we share space with others, and when there just isn’t room for everything.”

    This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. Slowdownshow.org/donate
  • The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

    1344: [encore] Cento Between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward-Rich

    10/19/2026 | 5 mins.
    Today’s poem is Cento Between the Ending and the End by Cameron Awkward-Rich.

    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “In times that feel divisive and fragmented, today’s poem is a reminder of what we can do and BE together. It’s a reminder of the whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.”

    This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation today. Slowdownshow.org/donate
  • The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

    Alynda Segarra: Holes by Eileen Myles (Extended Version)

    10/16/2026 | 12 mins.
    Today’s poem is Holes by Eileen Myles, with special guest Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff.

    Alynda Segarra is a singer-songwriter and frontperson of the band Hurray for the Riff Raff. Their music is genre-bending, drawing from punk, indie, and Americana roots.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Alynda shares… “Memories are the way we integrate that which we've lost into our lives. They are our mental holey sweaters. We wear them around, they slowly disintegrate, but we are proud to wear them. Kind of like the bandana around your neck. You're holding on to this place or time or person that you don't have anymore.”

    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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