Today’s poem is Genesis by Megan Pinto. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem makes it apparent how powerful human ingenuity is, how wondrous it is, but also, too, its limitations. Technology cannot console and quiet our restless, lonely spirits. Only we can.”

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Today’s poem is Hello, the Roses by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, Major writes… “It is said, poets are perpetually at odds with scientists. But the truth is, poets have long been inspired by advances in engineering, astronomy, and biology.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Earth, Earth by Cyrée Jarelle Johnson. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, Major writes… “Lately, I have upped my message of abiding by — or living — an ethos of care and compassion; my work in the classroom and on the page has taken greater urgency.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Jamboree, Evening, Midsummer by Austin Araujo. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, Major writes… “I have borne witness to some profoundly tender relationships over the years between siblings. I realize how quiet I have been in acknowledging the beauty of those bonds. So, consider today’s episode a shout out, a lifting of siblinghood that avoids traditional predictable codes and stereotypes.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is In Which I Become (Skywoman) by Kenzie Allen.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s beautiful, incantatory poem contains a rich message of communal nurturance, how we soften each other’s fall, as we learn to acknowledge our purpose in the universe.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Wind Ode by Sharon Olds. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, guest host Maggie Smith writes… “Today’s poem is an ode, a poem of praise or celebration. It reminds me that attention is a form of love. If you love the world, give it the gift of your attention. Don’t be afraid to get up close, to look deeper, to go inside. To reach out and touch, to smell, to engage your senses. We’re only here on this planet for a short time. We might as well soak up every last bit.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is White Peonies by Reginald Dwayne Betts. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, guest host Maggie Smith writes… “When I’m on a walk, I take pictures and make recordings so I can later identify what I’ve seen and heard. If my teenage daughter is with me, as she often is, she teases me when I use the birding app on my phone, or when I take photos of seed pods, or leaves, or bark, so I can identify a plant or a tree. She said once, “Why can’t you just see it and enjoy it? Why do you need to know its name?””

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Washing the Elephant by Barbara Ras. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.
In this episode, guest host Maggie Smith writes… “Today’s poem walloped me with its deep wisdom about childhood, memory, and love.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Rabbitbrush by Molly McCully Brown. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, guest host Maggie Smith writes… “One of the things I love about being in a new place is experiencing the flora and fauna of that place. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? When we learn a new place, we also learn who we are in that new place. We learn new ways to be ourselves.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Our Bodies by Michael Bazzett. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, guest host Maggie Smith writes… “I grew up pre-Internet, pre-cell phones. For most of my childhood we didn’t have cable TV or a VCR. If I had free time, I was riding my bike, playing outside, or reading a book. We call it “free range” now—the idea that children don’t need to be constantly supervised and entertained. There’s something about being left to your own devices, and having to be resourceful. Free time is an incomparable gift. It’s time to dream, time to imagine your way out of your own boredom, time to invent games or build things with your own two hands.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Statement of Teaching Philosophy by Keith Leonard. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, guest host Maggie Smith writes… “I know I’m not the only one who’s experienced the inadequacy of language. I know I’m not the only one who’s struggled to communicate something I’ve been thinking or feeling. But maybe you’ve experienced the magic of language. Maybe you’ve read something that articulated what you’ve felt or experienced but could never describe yourself. Or created some of your own artful language that gets across what you couldn’t say literally. It feels like a miracle, and it’s why, I think, we turn to poems: Because they often say the unsayable.”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp