{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"text":"","type":"text"}]}]}

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] 382: Another Night at Sea Level by Meg Day

Today’s poem is Another Night at Sea Level by Meg Day.


Today’s poem is Another Night at Sea Level by Meg Day.
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 12, 2020. In this episode, Tracy writes… “Written in letter form, today's poem captures and seeks to describe that feeling of the sublime for someone who is far away.” 
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp 

The Slowdown

[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 

[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 

The Slowdown

Latest Episode

Recent Episodes

[encore] 382: Another Night at Sea Level by Meg Day

[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

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] 382: Another Night at Sea Level by Meg Day

[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

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