"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," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1419. Read "Ladies' Arm Wrestling Match at the Blue Moon Diner" by Jenny Johnson: bit.ly/4b0XQv5

I ran on the treadmill so I could eat bourbon balls & Italian rainbow cookies for lunch: A Christmas Eve Tale.

Best of 2025: @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social

I’ve reached the listening to Electric Warrior turned way up & making homemade rosemary bar nuts stage of the holidays. I like it here.

"Today’s poem moves quietly and deliberately, the way a cautious deer might walk from the shelter of the woods into a clearing," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shared in today's episode. Read "Whitetail in the Rain Moving About" by Melissa Ginsburg: bit.ly/3L6UMTB 📖: @lsupress.bsky.social

"Today’s poem has me thinking about evolution and natural selection in a different way," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's episode. "It has me thinking about our survival." Read “Elephants Born Without Tusks" by Alison C. Rollins: bit.ly/4s6u5PU 📖: @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social

My daughter, my firstborn, is 17 today. This morning we were listening to a playlist she made of her 17 favorite songs, and she told me her senior quote will likely be lyrics from a Cranberries song—lyrics about childhood—and I cried happy, I-was-her-age-in-1994 tears. Happy Birthday to the best.

"Today’s poem is one about parents and children, bedtime fears, and the ways we communicate love and safety," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1414. Read "This dark is the same dark as when you close" by @caesura.bsky.social: bit.ly/4oXwTf4 📖: @alicejamesbooks.bsky.social

I first read this poem in my father's final days. It took my breath away. Tomorrow will mark one week since we lost him, but I know he's still with us. So grateful to have (finally!) read _The People's Project_, edited by @theferocity.bsky.social and @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social, where it appears.

“Today’s poem speaks to me because, at its heart, is a deep curiosity about the world — a desire to know more and more," shares host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in today’s encore episode. Read "Hiking Moraine State Park" by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza: bit.ly/3MnJf2G

Maggie Smith ♥️ @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social @tupelopress.bsky.social

Thank you to @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social and to the production team of #TheSlowdown for featuring "Amalgam" on its daily podcast today at www.slowdownshow.org and to #Plume and editor #DanielLawless for first publishing the poem. What a treat, to hear your work read by a pro in a real sound studio!

"Today’s poem uses metaphor so skillfully, so surprisingly. I think once you hear the end, you’ll want to listen one more time to feel it click again," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1411 of The Slowdown. Read "Amalgam" by Rebecca Foust: bit.ly/4auvcCe

Lump in my throat on the way home from dropping my kids off at school, half from the streaky morning sky, half from this song. A good lump that made me smile. Take care out there. open.spotify.com/track/1rsGgT...

"Today’s poem is a long, beautiful strand," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1410 of The Slowdown. "Listen and enjoy." Read "Go" by Kathleen Ossip and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4oqUjJw 📖: Sarabande Books

"Today’s poem explores PTSD as experienced by a POW, or prisoner of war," shares host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in episode 1409 of The Slowdown. "I admire this poem for the way it speaks to the resilience of the human spirit." Read "Sal, 1950" by Paula Colangelo: bit.ly/4oD75VK

Courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art archives, John Constable's 1822 Cloud Study. Written on the back: "Sep 21 1822 past one o'clock looking South wind very fresh at East, but warm."

Cried—like, really cried—through a lot of Rental Family tonight. I went in knowing next to nothing about it, but I was completely charmed. A beautiful film. And Brendan Fraser is terrific.

"Today’s poem meditates on sacred spaces, and how they mean something different to each of us," shares host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in today's episode of The Slowdown, number 1407. Read "At the Base of the Mountain” by Amanda Hawkins and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4pjmz2k

"Today’s poem charmed me immediately with its imagination and its restraint," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shared in today's episode of The Slowdown, number 1406. "It’s also a poem I want to read again as soon as I finish it." Read "Paperweight" by Ryan Teitman: bit.ly/4oZE6fH

“It's human nature to want to know for oneself, not only to trust in the knowledge of others," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social says during episode 1405 of The Slowdown. Read "Entry” by Chet’la Sebree and our full episode transcript: https://bit.ly/48abvgj 📖: @tinhouse.bsky.social

So grateful to have “Gloria Mundi” featured on The Slowdown podcast this morning. Thank you to the host, Maggie Smith, for seeing the poem fully and reading it beautifully. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

“The speaker of today’s poem imagines loved ones coming to their funeral—and they have some directives, and some requests," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's episode of The Slowdown, number 1402. Read "Gloria Mundi" by Michael Kleber-Diggs: https://bit.ly/3Xb2ezJ

Oh, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social, I love your "confession" at today's @slowdownshow.org: "I have a funeral playlist—a list of songs I want played at whatever my memorial service turns out to be." www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2025...

“Today’s poem dreams its way into an imagined scenario: finding oneself on this planet, an alien, a stranger, and doing one’s best to be seen as belonging, so as to stay," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1401 of The Slowdown. Read "LeaveTaking" by Rita Dove: bit.ly/49VUARa

Earnest post alert. I know, when I look back at the weirdest & most complicated times in my life, the not-enough-sleep times, I’ll see what got me through, & it will be my friends.

“More than any genre, perhaps, poetry can help us say the unsayable," host Maggie Smith (@maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social) shares in episode 1400 of The Slowdown. "It helps to let poets take the reins." Read "The Eulogy I Didn't Give (I)" by Bob Hicok and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/49omPYz

“What can literature, or music, or film, or performance, or visual art do for us, particularly when we are struggling, individually and collectively?" asks @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in today's episode, number 1398. Read "A dead whale can feed an entire ecosystem" by Rachel Dillon: bit.ly/4oLpz7f

AWP is elated to announce Kiese Laymon, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social, Justin Torres, and Weike Wang as judges for the 2026 AWP Award Series! Check out our website to learn more about each judge and award. Submissions open January 1, 2026.

“Today’s poem makes us consider how we write about other people," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode number 1397 of The Slowdown. Read “Palinode" by Lisa Low and our full episode transcript: https://bit.ly/4p7SOAO 📖: University of Wisconsin Press

I don’t know how you reset your vibe, but tonight I’m playing “Dopamine” by Robyn on repeat & dancing around the house & I’m telling you…it’s working.

Hey next Feb/March I'm helping the incredible @meganstielstra.bsky.social with a class she's teaching called "Writing Rage." The amazing @smashfizzle.bsky.social and @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social and Carmen Maria Machado are also helping. Will be wild. www.offassignment.com/writing-rage

I'm so honored to have my work featured on the Slow Down! Thank you, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social. Wonderful timing, as I'm writing poems again and trying to finish a manuscript. New poems coming soon from some magazines near you! ✨

“While we don’t have access to the answers, this poem is a beautiful place for the questions to live," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1393 of The Slowdown. Read “The Night Where You No Longer Live" by @meghanor.bsky.social: bit.ly/4qSoA6s 📖: @wwnorton.com

“Sometimes I prefer to engage with art — to listen to a record or see a film — without expectations," host Maggie Smith (@maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social) shares in episode number 1392 of The Slowdown. Read “Local Mission" by Kai Carlson-Wee and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/47QaRVl

Stumbled upon @shelflifebooksrva.bsky.social while walking around Richmond, VA today. What a great little bookstore! Grabbed The People’s Project for my flight home tonite. Perfect carry-on size. Been on my TBR for a while. Thank you, @theferocity.bsky.social & @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social

“Today’s poem is one I’ve carried around in my mind for years, one whose language I flash to instinctively when I see a flock of birds," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1391. Read "Never-ending Birds" by David Baker (@davidbakerpoet.bsky.social): bit.ly/4ouhPWU 📖: @wwnorton.com

“There is power in naming, as today’s poem reminds us," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1390 of The Slowdown. "Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. Nor should you." Read “The Poem Climbs the Scaffold and Tells You What It Sees" by @natashaoladokun.bsky.social: bit.ly/49At8by

"You can also save someone’s life by loving them, by just being with them so they’re not alone." - @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in the intro to this beautiful and gutting poem about friendship by @jennymolberg.bsky.social

“Today’s poem introduced me to a new word for longing or yearning — and it showed me a way to use that expansive desire as a frame for the magic of everyday life," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's episode. Read “Sehnsucht" by @michaeldumanis.bsky.social: bit.ly/47Y85hR

“Today’s poem unexpectedly merges the playfulness of anagrams with the gravitas of a terminal diagnosis — the weight of reckoning with the end of one’s life," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1388. Read “When I learn Catastrophically " by the late Martha Silano: bit.ly/43SNIA9

This week on @slowdownshow.org, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social reads @jennymolberg.bsky.social's "Different Kinds of Sadness." ‬This great poem first appeared in "Refusal" (LSU Press, 2020), and we were so happy to revisit it. Listen here! bit.ly/3X7C54y

“It can be so hard to accept help from others, especially if you pride yourself on being self-sufficient," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1387 of The Slowdown. Read “Different Kinds of Sadness" by @jennymolberg.bsky.social and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4oIADBE

Finding strength from The People's Project (@theferocity.bsky.social and @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social) and this page especially (@mirajacob.bsky.social)

"Today’s poem is by one of my favorite poets," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1385. "Stan understood the double bind of deep solitude: that for the poet, for the artist, it’s as lonely as it is necessary." Read "At Night" by Stanley Plumly: bit.ly/3WvzWQ4

I know tomorrow’s Halloween, but are we listening to Johnny Mathis Christmas songs in our house this morning? Unapologetically.

"Children are so talented at asking unanswerable questions. Questions that cut you to the quick," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1384. Read "I do not mention the war in my birthplace to my six-year-old son but somehow his body knows" by Julia Kolchinsky: bit.ly/48Yk4Nz

"This poem has me thinking more and more about chance, and about our circumstances," shares host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in today's episode of The Slowdown. Read "The Situation in Our City" by Ciona Rouse @cionarouse.bsky.social and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/3Lh50R3

The depth of the shame of a country this wealthy and abundant allowing its people to go hungry is impossible to measure. The fact that a handful of people could fix this by paying their fair share of taxes while still remaining obscenely wealthy makes it even worse.

“Today’s poem brought me right back to being a young girl with a beloved doll," shares host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in episode 1382. "Back then, it would have been unbearable to be separated." Read “Lamb" by Richie Hofmann and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/43FoFR0 📸: Ryan Hagerty