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PODCAST

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Eliana Benavides

Poet Major Jackson is your guide on the pathways to feel and understand our common journey – through poetry. In sharing poems, we take a moment to pause and acknowledge the world’s magnitude, and how poets illuminate that mystery. Join The Slowdown for a poem and a moment of reflection in one short episode, every weekday. Produced by APM Studios in partnership with The Poetry Foundation and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. Make us a

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All Episodes

5:54

1439: I Have Lost It by Monica Ferrell

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2026/01/21

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

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7:05

1438: The Long Now by Robin Beth Schaer

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2026/01/20

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

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5:49

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

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2026/01/19

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

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7:15

1436: Vacation by Sara Moore Wagner

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2026/01/16

Today’s poem is Vacation by Sara Moore Wagner. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “It feels like a quintessential American experience, taking your kids to the beach. I remember trips to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Ocean City, Maryland, when I was young — road trips in the family minivan, because it was more affordable to get a family of five to the coast by car than by plane. (My first flight wasn’t until I was twenty years old, but that’s another story

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6:06

1432: The Good Guy by Blas Falconer

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2026/01/12

Today’s poem is The Good Guy by Blas Falconer. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem touched me because it acknowledges the patience and tenderness we need to have as spouses and as parents. Relationships are a lot of work, and when you have children it adds another layer of love and another layer of work. Another level of consideration.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference:

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6:07

1429: Midlife Crisis by Jane Zwart

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2026/01/07

Today’s poem is Midlife Crisis by Jane Zwart. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Midlife has upended everything I thought about aging. It’s not at all what I expected. Certainly, when I was a child, I thought of people in their forties as old, and now that I’m closer to 50 than 40, I laugh at that. I feel … young! I feel younger, in many ways, than I did ten years ago. I admire how today’s poem describes time, and what it feels like to reach the middle of

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7:10

1428: In Defense of “Candelabra with Heads” by Nicole...

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2026/01/06

Today’s poem is In Defense of “Candelabra with Heads” by Nicole Sealey. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem pulls back the curtain on the revision process, showing us how it’s about more than just the text on the page. The poet refers to an earlier poem of theirs, an ekphrastic poem based on a sculpture by Thomas Hirschhorn. His work “Candelabra with Heads” features mannequins bandaged in brown duct tape and hung from a wood frame. This poet

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6:23

1427: A toast to something beautiful flapping in the...

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2026/01/05

Today’s poem is A toast to something beautiful flapping in the wind by J. Hope Stein. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Once upon a time, I was a new mother with a baby girl in my arms, and I was her whole world. It was seventeen years ago, but sometimes I swear I can transport myself back there just by closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I remember reading that a baby’s first three months of life are called the fourth trimester. Three trimesters are

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6:49

1426: One-Way Gate by Jenny George

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2026/01/02

Today’s poem is One-Way Gate by Jenny George.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Sometimes I swear I can feel a life-changing moment as it’s happening. Some moments in life feel like walking through a doorway from one place or time into another. Like crossing a threshold. It’s often easier to see these thresholds from the other side, looking back. Retrospect is clearer than present perspective. But as I get older, I think I’m getting better at seeing

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7:33

1421: My 1994 by Stephanie Burt

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/26

Today’s poem is My 1994 by Stephanie Burt. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “In 1994 I was seventeen: my daughter’s age! I remember that as a time when I was trying to figure out who I was. But to some degree we’re always trying to figure that out, aren’t we?” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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6:41

1419: Ladies' Arm Wrestling Match at the Blue Moon...

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/24

Today’s poem is Ladies' Arm Wrestling Match at the Blue Moon Diner by Jenny Johnson. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem begins with a little advice that made me smile because of its sauciness, and the poem unfolds into such a rich, detailed portrait — not a portrait of a lady, but of ladies, shedding old expectations and claiming new power.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference:

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6:47

1418: Whitetail in the Rain Moving About by Melissa...

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/23

Today’s poem is Whitetail in the Rain Moving About by Melissa Ginsburg.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem moves quietly and deliberately, the way a cautious deer might walk from the shelter of the woods into a clearing. I love the sounds of this poem, and its pacing.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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8:51

Bonus Episode: Maggie Smith on This Old House Radio Hour

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/20

Today, we have a bonus episode for you: an excerpt of This Old House Radio Hour, featuring our very own Maggie Smith. She takes listeners inside the 100-year-old house that has carried her family through every chapter. If you’d like to hear more of “This Old House Radio Hour,” you can listen to past episodes at thisoldhouse.com/radiohour and follow the show wherever you get your podcasts.

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7:46

1416: Nursery by Kiki Petrosino

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/19

Today’s poem is Nursery by Kiki Petrosino. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem draws on the language of fairy tales and the strange, sometimes inexplicable things that happen in these stories. After all, strange, sometimes inexplicable things happen in life, too.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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7:39

1415: Elephants Born Without Tusks by Alison C. Rollins

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/18

Today’s poem is Elephants Born Without Tusks by Allison C. Rollins. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “It’s one thing to think about animals that have evolved to adapt to their habitats: maybe they are camouflaged from predators, or they develop physical traits to help them withstand the elements. But what about humans? We have the ability to live anywhere, thanks to human technologies. We’ve built a society that protects us from natural predators—except for

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6:02

1414: This dark is the same dark as when you close by...

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/17

Today’s poem is by R.A. Villanueva. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is one about parents and children, bedtime fears, and the ways we communicate love and safety. It references a lyric from a song I love: ‘Not Strong Enough’ by the band boygenius.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

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7:02

1413: On Proliferation by Cass Donish

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/16

Today’s poem is On Proliferation by Cass Donish. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “As a poet, I think one of my personal stages of grief is writing. When I experience deep loss, there is a part of me that needs to try to articulate that loss. I wouldn’t say that writing about loss is healing; writing doesn’t restore who or what’s been lost. There are distances we can’t cross, things we can’t fully understand. But we try, with language. And there is honor in

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6:12

1412: Ledge (ars poetica) (love poem) (true story) by...

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/15

Today’s poem is Ledge (ars poetica) (love poem) (true story) by Amorak Huey. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem calls itself an ars poetica, a love poem, and a true story. That’s a lot of work for one poem to do—a lot of layers of meaning! But this poet does speak to the precarity of it all: writing, and loving, and living.“ Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference:

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7:02

[encore] 1343: /’mīgrent/ by Tiana Nobile

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/11

Today’s poem is /’mīgrent/ by Tiana Nobile.The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes. Today’s episode was originally released on September 2, 2025. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem looks at the word migrant and its meaning apart from the current political climate. Movement from place to place, after all, suggests possibility, opportunity, and AGENCY. To migrate, whether you

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6:08

[encore] 1368: Do You Consider Writing to be...

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily ·

2025/12/10

Today’s poem is Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace.The Slowdown is taking a week to return to some of our favorite episodes from Maggie’s tenure so far. We’ll be back on Monday, December 15 with new episodes.Today’s episode was originally released on October 7, 2025. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The next time I’m asked if writing is therapy, I may just respond by reading today’s poem. I think it answers the question with succinct, heartbreaking beauty.” Celebrate the

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