{"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

1439: I Have Lost It by Monica Ferrell

Today’s poem is I Have Lost It by Monica Ferrell. 


Today’s poem is I Have Lost It by Monica Ferrell. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I’ve misplaced—or lost—many things in my life, but a few come to mind because losing them pained me. A few Polaroid pictures of a loved one who’s gone now. Some vintage clothes I was attached to. A long handwritten letter. At first, losing those irreplaceable items felt like losing the keys to that loved one, that place, that time. But I eventually realized the doors to those memories are still there — and to my surprise, they’re always unlocked. I can open them with my mind … my imagination … whenever I want. Do I wish I still had the things I treasured—the keys to those doors? Yes, of course I do.  But I don’t need them.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp 


The Slowdown

1438: The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer

Today’s poem is The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer. 


Today’s poem is The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem addresses a child—a child full of questions about the world. It reminds me that as parents, we don’t need to have the answers, and we don’t need to pretend to have them. Instead we can listen, stay open, and honor our kids’ curiosity and wonder. Honor the poets and philosophers that they are.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp 

1437: now that we’ve been married all these years, by Keetje Kuipers

Today’s poem is Now that we’ve been married all these years, by Keetje Kuipers. 


Today’s poem is now that we’ve been married all these years, by Keetje Kuipers. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… "I can remember a few “beforetimes” in my own life, though some are foggier than others. It’s hard for me to clearly imagine the life I had before my kids. It’s also hard for me to conjure the life I had with my ex-husband, and the life I had before him. Now is so… well, present. I’m happy, and I feel like my life is as it should be. I don’t want to go back. But the past is never really past; it’s with us, because it changes us. The past shaped who we are in the present. Today’s poem is a love poem, one in which the long-married speaker can hardly imagine their own “beforetimes”—the life before their spouse." 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

1439: I Have Lost It by Monica Ferrell

1438: The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer

1437: Now that we’ve been married all these years, by Keetje Kuipers

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

1439: I Have Lost It by Monica Ferrell

1438: The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer

1437: Now that we’ve been married all these years, by Keetje Kuipers

Get a poem handpicked by Maggie Smith every weekday. The email includes an abridged version of Maggie’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