Today’s poem is Return Path by Lesley Wheeler.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The multiple repetitions and the circular nature of the villanelle make it a good form for poems that grapple with an insistent memory, an unresolved emotion, or a feeling of being trapped. But the form can be a container for any kind of subject matter in which repetition feels essential. So much of life is repetition, after all, isn’t it? We perform the same actions again and again, day after day. This might sound mundane, but when repetition is reverent, it also forms rituals — repetitions which give our lives meaning. Today’s poem is a villanelle, and its use of the word ‘circuit’ makes the repetition especially apropos.”

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Today’s poem is Listening to Vespertine for Twenty Hours Straight by Derrick Austin.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “If you’re lucky, you have friends who might sense the shift in your emotional weather: the clouds rolling in, the sky darkening. If you’re very lucky, those friends might know what to do without being asked or prompted. They might come over with takeout and offer a listening ear. They might pick you up and take you to the movies or to a concert, to get you out of your bubble. Or maybe they come over and just simply exist with you. Maybe sitting next to you, maybe watching TV, maybe not talking at all, all without expecting you to be cheerful or even sociable. Their presence is calming in itself. Their unconditional love and acceptance, even when you’re not sparkling.”

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Today’s poem is So Much Space for Song by James Crews.

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 Rekha from Washington, D.C.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Rekha reflects… “Today's poem shows us that we are part of nature. We always tend to think of birds and animals and insects sort of as nature abstracted, but they're just like us.”

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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.

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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.

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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

Today’s poem is Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Wherever you live, you don’t have to be nice. But please be kind. We need more genuine, altruistic kindness in this world. So, how can you be more kind? By helping others without being performative about it, and without needing recognition. By letting people know you’re thinking of them, by reaching out when you know someone is struggling, and by practicing simple acts of kindness: holding a door open, letting someone go ahead of you in line, offering a sincere compliment. And one more thing: You can take in the wisdom of today’s poem and pass it along.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Power your daily dose of poetry at Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is Nobody's Job by Ronna Bloom.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “We call an ending “resonant” because it does what a bell does: After it’s rung, the vibration lingers. It reverberates. It sticks with you long after you’ve read the piece, humming in your head. Today’s poem is beautiful start to finish, but the ending astonished me. It moved me to tears, which caught me by surprise! If you don’t know this poem, I’m envious that you get to experience it for the first time.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Power your daily dose of poetry at Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is When you have to remind me to do the dishes by Isaac Pickell.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When I think back to my own upbringing and what I learned from my mother and father, almost none of it has to do with growing up as a girl. I got my work ethic, sense of humor, and sense of fairness from both of them. I remind myself of all of that whenever I wonder if my son is getting what he needs from me. And I remind myself that he has a village around him.”

This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Power your daily dose of poetry at Slowdownshow.org/donate