1598 Episodes

  1. 1384: I do not mention the war in my birthplace to my six-year-old son but somehow his body knows by Julia Kolchinsky

    Published: 10/29/2025

  2. 1383: The Situation in Our City by Ciona Rouse

    Published: 10/28/2025

  3. 1382: Lamb by Richie Hofmann

    Published: 10/27/2025

  4. 1381: What Is This Air Changing, This Warm Aura, These Threads of Air Vibrating Rows of People by Ariel Yelen

    Published: 10/24/2025

  5. 1380: Like Apple from Seed by Molly Johnsen

    Published: 10/23/2025

  6. 1379: Arkansabop by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers

    Published: 10/22/2025

  7. 1378: poem where no one is deported by José Olivarez

    Published: 10/21/2025

  8. 1377: The Crux by Megan Peak

    Published: 10/20/2025

  9. 1376: Laura, I Want You Pulling Your Hair Back by Natalie Dunn

    Published: 10/17/2025

  10. 1375: Dear Absent, by Marcus Wicker

    Published: 10/16/2025

  11. 1374: The Terror of New Love! by Tiana Clark

    Published: 10/15/2025

  12. 1373: Protection Spell Jar by Cynthia Marie Hoffman

    Published: 10/14/2025

  13. 1372: My Body Knows Its Limits by Page Hill Starzinger

    Published: 10/13/2025

  14. 1371: At Last the New Arriving by Gabrielle Calvocoressi

    Published: 10/10/2025

  15. 1370: Soot by Kaveh Akbar

    Published: 10/9/2025

  16. 1369: Six Hours Lost, Land Between the Lakes by Kathleen Driskell

    Published: 10/8/2025

  17. 1368: Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace

    Published: 10/7/2025

  18. 1367: Abundance by Rick Barot

    Published: 10/6/2025

  19. 1366: Nostalgia by Matthew Minicucci

    Published: 10/3/2025

  20. 1365: Noise Cancelling by Devon Walker-Figueroa

    Published: 10/2/2025

2 / 80

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.