Today’s poem is I Imagine the Butches' Stripper Bar by Jill McDonough. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on January 31, 2022. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “One of my favorite mysteries of the universe is what turns us on and why? When I talk with anyone about crushes and sensual pleasures and desi...
May 23, 2025•7 min
Today’s poem is Song by Charif Shanahan. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on September 12, 2022. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “When I am really writing, really working on poems, which is often as alive as I ever feel, as present as I ever feel, I am not just speaking to the world... I am listenin...
May 22, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Walking Across Fire Island by Shelley Wong. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on April 6, 2022. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “I love to walk, when I’m healthy and mobile enough to walk, it’s one of my favorite things to do to recenter myself, or rather decenter myself. For me, it’s...
May 21, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Golden Age by Chris Santiago. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on December 21, 2021. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “When I was a kid, I loved falling asleep to the sound of the television in the living room. I liked it most because it meant someone was up watching the world so I di...
May 20, 2025•6 min
Today’s poem is Bruised Peaches by Bronwen Tate. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on June 30, 2022. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “Every Thursday when I take out the trash, I think about how I quantify the value of my life. Every laundry day. Every time I check the mail. It feels like this is how ...
May 19, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Polaroid Ode by Cori Winrock. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on October 21, 2019. In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today’s poem captures the look and feel and ceremony—with all its hope and disappointment—of taking instant pictures. And it makes me wistful both for the past and the present.” ...
May 16, 2025•6 min
Today’s poem is Kissing the Opelu by Donovan Kūhiō Colleps. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on May 21, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today’s poem speaks to me of ancestry, tradition, and the fluidity of perception. We are who we are, the poem suggests to me, because of what we inherit from the peop...
May 15, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is What Does It Say by Tess Gallagher. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on July 17, 2019. In this episode, Tracy writes… “When I packed up for college, back in 1990, I took sneakers and loafers. I probably also brought some nerdy deck shoes, and maybe even a pair of heels. But by the time my soph...
May 14, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong by Ocean Vuong. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on May 18, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “Today’s poem models another critical aspect of self-care: being honest about how difficult life feels, and striving to be tender, patient and consoling with oneself.”...
May 13, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is a brief meditation on breath by Yesenia Montilla. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on October 19, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “The whole time, I felt all of my senses struggle to decelerate. My heart was like a drum solo. It felt like someone was pounding on my chest. While I was ther...
May 12, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is I Am Trying to Love the Whole World by Jenny Browne. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major Jackson’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on December 21, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “If only we viewed observations of the natural world and meditations on birds, mammals, and plant life as equally, critically urgent, we might awaken to the necessi...
May 09, 2025•7 min
Today’s poem is Dear—, by DéLana R.A. Dameron. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major Jackson’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on November 9, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem of rhyming couplets speaks a truth about loneliness; the wish for a sustaining love and companionship motivates us to work through our differences sometimes at the expense o...
May 08, 2025•6 min
Today’s poem is If only by Dawn Lundy Martin. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major Jackson’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on September 24, 2024. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem unapologetically claims psychic space. In order to be at peace and clear-eyed, the speaker forgoes decorative language that would obscure what their heart and mind believe ...
May 07, 2025•7 min
Today’s poem is Learning Money in Reverse by Stephanie Niu. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major Jackson’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on April 20, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s ingenious poem calls attention to the lived realities of financial literacy, how it’s touch and go, and how it’s thrust upon us if we are not fortunate to receive thos...
May 06, 2025•7 min
Today’s poem is Felonious States of Adjectival Excess Featuring Comparative and Superlative Forms by A. H. Jerriod Avant. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major Jackson’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on June 4, 2024. In this episode, Major writes… “I am drawn to poets who, like the author of today’s poem, bring imagination and attention to sonic idioms of a poem...
May 05, 2025•6 min
Today’s poem is hoop snake by Rebecca Wee. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on October 21, 2022. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “A few days ago, a friend told me that Spanish Moss, a moss I love, the way it droops down over the water oaks like mint-colored lace draping the world in a gauzy dappled ...
May 02, 2025•7 min
Today’s poem is Travel by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on November 17, 2021. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “In today’s poem by the iconic Edna St. Vincent Millay, we look at the wanderlust that so many of us have been experiencing during this strange time. How, even if...
May 01, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is The Field by Rick Barot. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on April 26, 2022. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “I am prone to making up stories about strangers I see from a distance. Even as a kid, I’d delight in giving someone I didn't know a whole invented backstory. It was a way of ...
Apr 30, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is a fishing story. by Mia S. Willis. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on September 19, 2022. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “Today’s poem is about imagining oneself as the wild and untamed thing, and how someone else might hold you up to the light.” Celebrate the power of poems with a...
Apr 29, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Divorce by José A. Alcantara. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Ada Limón’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on July 21, 2022. In this episode, former host Ada Limón writes… “Today’s poem takes the metaphor of a bird visitation and transforms it into a symbol of resilience.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every...
Apr 28, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Minneapolipstick by Rachel McKibbens. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on September 21, 2020. In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “Sometimes a dance party is the only means of conflict resolution in my house.]” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation make...
Apr 25, 2025•7 min
Today’s poem is Leaving Tulsa by Jennifer Elise Foerster. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on October 22, 2020. In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “History is a worn path. Deep ruts eaten into Earth make up a road. But there are additional routes, footprints, and wheel grooves and grassy straits few have tra...
Apr 24, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Untitled by Sesshu Foster. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on June 12, 2019. In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “Sometimes, I return to memories of my past and feel as though I'm peering in upon strangers. And yet, I know something fundamental to the person I now am, resides there.” Celebrat...
Apr 23, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Waiting for Happiness by Nomi Stone. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on December 24, 2019. In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “It's a good thing to have a dog, someone who cares about you, someone who shares their whole heart with you entirely. Dogs don't hold back. They don't keep secrets. ...
Apr 22, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Wake Up by Carl Phillips. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on January 24, 2020. In this episode, former host Tracy K. Smith writes… “That's how it feels sometimes listening to news of our daily catastrophes, like all of us, no matter who we are, are lost together. And the old signs, the old facts even are gon...
Apr 21, 2025•5 min
Today’s poem is Sonnet for Ochún by Leslie Sainz. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We're currently taking a break and will be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on January 19, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “In today’s poem, I hear a shared melancholy, a world-weariness where the edges of life fail to offer answers. Yet, I detect, too, in the presence of a deity, the transits an...
Apr 18, 2025•7 min
Today’s poem is Worry (the Dybbuk) by Anthony Immergluck. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We're currently taking a break and will be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on April 27, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “After living through all manner of personal and communal tribulations, I’ve come to believe things will work themselves out. Yet, it’s not that the worries have gone a...
Apr 17, 2025•6 min
Today’s poem is Who Among You Knows the Essence of Garlic? by Garrett Hongo. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We're currently taking a break and will be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on July 6, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem exemplifies the kind of deep historical and sensory awareness only possible when one has turned their senses into a laboratory of feeling...
Apr 16, 2025•6 min
Today’s poem is Six for Gold by Kate Hanson Foster. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We're currently taking a break and will be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on April 4, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “Confession: As a young parent, when my children barraged me with questions, so many times, I wanted to [poof] disappear. We’ve all experienced this moment (right?) when a chi...
Apr 15, 2025•7 min
Today’s poem is Some Madness There by Charlotte Pence. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We're currently taking a break and will be back soon with new episodes. This week, we’re revisiting some favorites from Major’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on March 31, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “When I arrived in Eugene, Oregon after an arduous yet stunning road trip of camping and driving through the midwest, the Rockies, the Arches National Park, Death Valley, ...
Apr 14, 2025•7 min
