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


This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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


Produced in partnership with the Poetry Foundation

Hear four poems curated by a few very special friends of The Slowdown.


Special Guest Hosted Episodes

Announcements

[encore] 1006: Something Sweet by Hannah Lowe

Today’s poem is Something Sweet by Hannah Lowe. 


Today’s poem is Something Sweet by Hannah Lowe. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We’re taking a break this week, so we’re sharing some of our favorite episodes from the archive. We’ll be back with new episodes on January 6, 2025. This episode was originally released on November 24, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem, a sonnet, holds the truth that the world is capable of awakening us out of our petrified states. We can be charmed back into our bodies and repaired, so that we feel again, sometimes acutely, the sweetness of our existence more than the hostile and profane.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp 

The Slowdown

[encore] 964: abundance of light by erica lewis

Today’s poem is abundance of light by erica lewis. 


Today’s poem is abundance of light by erica lewis.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We’re taking a break this week, so we’re sharing some of our favorite episodes from the archive. We’ll be back with new episodes on January 6, 2025. This episode was originally released on September 13, 2023. In this episode, Major writes… “I hear in today’s poem a haunting, reckoning, and nostalgia – dominant themes among poets on the road. On stages and podiums, we traded poems about heartbreak, childhood memories, and personal loss. What emerges is a triumphant questioning spirit that overcomes grief and uncertainty.” 
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp 

[encore] 1032: Counting, This New Year’s Morning, What Powers Yet Remain To Me by Jane Hirshfield

Today’s poem is Counting, This New Year’s Morning, What Powers Yet Remain To Me by Jane Hirshfield


Today’s poem is Counting, This New Year’s Morning, What Powers Yet Remain To Me by Jane Hirshfield.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We’re taking a break this week, so we’re sharing some of our favorite episodes from the archive. We’ll be back with new episodes on January 6, 2025. This episode was originally released on January 1, 2024. In this episode, Major writes… “The clocks have struck another year. Soon, I will box up and archive 2023 in the mental basement of my mind, although I'm sure certain events of the past 365 days will reverberate in both predictable and not-so-predictable ways into the future. Today’s poem makes a powerful assertion that maybe what we bring to the problems of the world, to our sense of survival, is our attention—and our joy.” 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] 1006: Something Sweet by Hannah Lowe

[encore] 964: abundance of light by erica lewis

[encore] 1032: Counting, This New Year’s Morning, What Powers Yet Remain To Me by Jane Hirshfield

Announcements

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Produced in partnership with the Poetry Foundation

Special Guest Hosted Episodes

Other APM Podcasts

Truth Be Told

Ripple

The Splendid Table

The Slowdown

Latest Episode

Recent Episodes

[encore] 1006: Something Sweet by Hannah Lowe

[encore] 964: abundance of light by erica lewis

[encore] 1032: Counting, This New Year’s Morning, What Powers Yet Remain To Me by Jane Hirshfield

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

Announcements

This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Produced in partnership with the Poetry Foundation

Special Guest Hosted Episodes

Other APM Podcasts

Truth Be Told

Ripple

The Splendid Table