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After two years, two seasons and 443 episodes, Major Jackson is stepping down from the host chair. 


A Farewell to Major Jackson

To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.


Supported in Part by National Endowment for the Arts

Raising poetry to a more visible and influential position in American culture.


Produced in Partnership With the Poetry Foundation

Announcements

[encore] 442: Climbing China's Great Wall by Afaa M. Weaver

Today’s poem is Climbing China's Great Wall by Afaa M. Weaver.


Today’s poem is Climbing China's Great Wall by Afaa M. Weaver.
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 August 4, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “I visited China for the first time in the spring of 2017. It was a visit to the great poet Yi Lei, whose poems I had been working to translate. It was my second time meeting Yi Lei in person. The first had been three years earlier, over lunch in Manhattan. That was the trip when we visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. It was a bright, clear, warm day. There were plenty of visitors all around, but our climb up and down the thousand steep steps felt spacious somehow, as if we had the site to ourselves. I gawked happily at trees and mountains, stones and birds. I wanted to feel history under my feet, but really it was the living moment that enraptured me.” 
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp 

The Slowdown

[encore] 454: On a Spaceship Somewhere, Long After Empire's Collapse by Jesús I. Valles

Today’s poem is On a Spaceship Somewhere, Long After Empire's Collapse by Jesús I. Valles.


Today’s poem is On a Spaceship Somewhere, Long After Empire's Collapse by Jesús I. Valles.
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 August 20, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “The message from the stars is simple: it doesn’t have to be this way. I hope we humans might change of our own volition. Barring that, I’m game for celestial intervention.” 
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp 

[encore] 470: Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry by Jericho Brown

Today’s poem is Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry by Jericho Brown. 


Today’s poem is Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry by Jericho Brown.
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 September 11, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “I like it when I pass into the orbit of a stranger and, without expecting or even wanting to, I feel a very accidental, very fleeting form of kinship. For me, this happens sometimes when I’m traveling and far from home — far from my everyday me. Or when I’m moving through public space while also deeply lost in thought. Talking to myself maybe. Or laughing at something I think only I have seen. And then I meet unfamiliar eyes, and I understand that we are in the same moment together. How wonderful would it be if trust, or even love, might be possible between any of us — or even all of us. I mean, if we let ourselves believe such a thing is possible.” 
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

The Slowdown

Latest Episode

Recent Episodes

[encore] 442: Climbing China's Great Wall by Afaa M. Weaver

[encore] 454: On a Spaceship Somewhere, Long After Empire's Collapse by Jesús I. Valles

[encore] 470: Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry by Jericho Brown

Announcements

A Farewell to Major Jackson

Supported in Part by National Endowment for the Arts

Produced in Partnership With the Poetry Foundation

Other APM Podcasts

Truth Be Told

Ripple

The Splendid Table

The Slowdown

Latest Episode

Recent Episodes

[encore] 442: Climbing China's Great Wall by Afaa M. Weaver

[encore] 454: On a Spaceship Somewhere, Long After Empire's Collapse by Jesús I. Valles

[encore] 470: Say Thank You Say I'm Sorry by Jericho Brown

Get a poem handpicked by Major Jackson every weekday. The email includes an abridged version of Major’s introduction.

Announcements

A Farewell to Major Jackson

Supported in Part by National Endowment for the Arts

Produced in Partnership With the Poetry Foundation

Other APM Podcasts

Truth Be Told

Ripple

The Splendid Table