"[Today's] poem finds the sacred all around," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1545. Read "Panis Angelicus" by Carol Muske-Dukes — from WYNDMERE — and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4vDs3bm 📖: @upittpress.bsky.social

"On the other hand ... a pocket dial might also offer us a tender look at — and a tender listen into — life without our presence," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1546. Read “Pocket Dial” by @jamesdavismay.bsky.social: bit.ly/4wftOvd

"Today’s poem makes me feel seen as a mother, and it also reminds me to stay present — to appreciate exactly where we are together, right now," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1544. Read “Versions of Girlhood” by Tina Chang and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4oNJrHC

Oh @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social this poem is so rich. Every line more loaded than the next. plumepoetry.com/on-the-porch...

Took a day off to celebrate and absorb 10 years of being a parent in this world, and am reading the perfect book by @theferocity.bsky.social and @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social gifted to me by the one and only @jessicau.bsky.social

"It is a privilege to have lived in the same part of the same country, safely, for generations," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1543. Read "What The Suitcase Bearing My Family Name Might Have Contained When it Arrived at Auschwitz" by Ava Nathaniel Winter: bit.ly/4aKh0Va

"Sometimes we want or need to travel 'off the beaten path,' as they say," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1542 of The Slowdown. "Sometimes, as we see in today’s poem, we have to find — or create — a new way." Read "What We Wanted" by Carol Moldaw: bit.ly/4aIcfLO

that’s right

Very excited to announce that we are hosting a virtual event with Danny Caine author of How to Defend Books & Why that is also a fundraiser for @authorsabb.bsky.social July 17 at 7PM. Link to register & for more info 👇

Lovely chatting with @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social lareviewofbooks.org/article/suit...

@maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social is taking some time off from @slowdownshow.org, but she left us a real beauty today. www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2026...

"In today’s poem, costumes provide essential cover. Only disguised as others, concealed, can the speaker and her love be their true selves," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1531. Read “Cheap Magic” by Arielle Hebert, from BOTTOM FEEDERS, and our episode transcript: bit.ly/4e7bPQb

"Today’s poem explores both the beauty and the brutality in decay," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1527 of The Slowdown. Read "Native Grasses" by Lynnell Edwards and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4fR8oiO

"[Today's poem] weaves together the pain and the beauty of desire, which can become so knotted in our teen years," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1528. Read “Isobutyl Nitrite” by Kieron Walquist, from OUR HANDS HOLD VIOLENCE: bit.ly/439fbNq

"Hope ... is something we all need more to combat the cruelty and cynicism of these times we’re enduring," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1529. Read "Prayer for My Unborn Niece or Nephew" by Ross Gay, from BRINGING THE SHOVEL DOWN: bit.ly/4uOcpsX 📖: @upittpress.bsky.social

"Maybe it’s possible to have a welcome haunting. To open ourselves up to visitors, and to seek their company, however they are able to make themselves known," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social muses in episode 1526. Read "Missing" by Mary Morris, from LATE SELF-PORTRAITS: bit.ly/4ebSgas

"Every once in a while, a poem comes along with imagery so startling, phrasing so original, I have to read it several times in a row," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's episode, number 1525. Read “The Burning Kite” by Ouyang Jianghe, translated by Austin Woerner: bit.ly/4dBVTGA

Tonight! Featuring two collections I absolutely treasure. @gibsonsbookstore.bsky.social @aclu-nh.bsky.social @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social @theferocity.bsky.social

"Be exactly who you are, and be from where you’re from unapologetically," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1523 of The Slowdown. "Show us that life. Tell us those stories. And let your people speak." Read "The Village" by Marc Harshman and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/3PtKq2C

"I have to remain optimistic — cautiously optimistic, because these are difficult days — that as we know better, we will do better," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's episode, number 1522. Read "The Long Run" by Linda Gregerson and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4v7gjgr

"Today’s poem ... was built to last," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1521. Read "You Try to Fix It" by @surlyacres.bsky.social, originally published in RHINO: bit.ly/4fBIJdU Episodes of The Slowdown are published every weekday in your preferred podcast app!

"Today’s poem excavates childhood memories in a way only a poem can — and it enacts the fragmentation, the piece-iness, of memory," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1518. Read “On Being Told I Should Write a Memoir” by Jan-Henry Gray and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/498u6uF

Thank you so much to @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social and @slowdownshow.org!

"It’s a trade-off, I suppose, to be content in life but a little discontent with a pen in my hand, trying to commit it to the page," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social writes in episode 1519. Read "At the Entrance of a Love Poem I Hesitate” by Maya C. Popa and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4nCOJoC

It’s listening to Laura Veirs & reading my much loved, tattered copy of Beckian Fritz Goldberg’s Body Betrayer in the bathtub o’clock. Happy no plans Wednesday!🥂

Thank you, John! 🥹🙏

"I admire how today’s poem is as much about memory — and the connections our minds make — as it is about loss," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1512. Read "Terra Vita" by Lisa Hiton, from AFTERFEAST, and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/42ZWawD 📖: @tupelopress.bsky.social

"Today’s poem examines the many possibilities of giving love in a temporary world," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1515. Read “True Story” by Camille T. Dungy — from AMERICA, A LOVE STORY (@weslpress.bsky.social) — and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4wrFQSS

"Loss is inevitable, but so is growth," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1513. "There is a natural order to things that we only partially understand." Read “Climacteric” by Kelly Gray and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4wwWlxh

"We read and share poems in times of tragedy because they say something we need to say, or need to hear," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1514. Read "A Love Poem Will Not Save the World" by C. Russell Price (@nupress.bsky.social) and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4wn77Gl

One of the loveliest books I’ve read this year. By @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social. Highly recommend to anyone who loves the craft of writing but also feels terribly insecure. The writing-specific advice is unexpectedly relevant for researchers. The big pictures perspectives are priceless.

"What happens when the boundary between what one person owns and what another person owns falls, or fails?" @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social asks in episode 1509. Read "Something there is that doesn’t love" by Armen Davoudian, from THE PALACE OF FORTY PILLARS, and our episode transcript: bit.ly/3PqSbGi

"Today’s poem reminds me to feel tenderness toward the earlier versions of me," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social writes in episode 1507. Read "How to Dress a Star" by Nicholas Goodly, from STAR POWER (@scribnerbooks.bsky.social) and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4n5L3M9

"Today’s poem creates a mythology out of inheritance, mirroring the repetition of narratives and lineages," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social writes in episode 1505. Read "Queen of Collapse" by Hadara Bar-Nadav, from THE ANIMAL IS CHEMICAL (@fourwaybooks.bsky.social): bit.ly/4ul1KFM

“Today’s poem shows us that tai chi is not only meditation in motion, but also metaphor in motion," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1503. Read "Cloud Hands" by Arthur Sze — from SIGHTLINES @coppercanyonpress.bsky.social — and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/3QMVCr9

"It’s always fascinating to see what moves the people you care about. What resonates with them and inspires them," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1502 of The Slowdown. Read “On My History of Kissing Everyone At Parties” by @isabellewrites.bsky.social: bit.ly/41XVd7S

"There are so many beautiful moments in airports, if you pay attention," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's episode of The Slowdown, number 1501. Read “at the baggage claim at JFK” by @lonaylor.bsky.social and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/41SVXLm

"Sometimes I swear I can hear the form of a poem if I listen carefully," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1500 of The Slowdown. Read "You believed only a girl born of a dandelion can be ferocious" by @purvipoets.bsky.social and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4vLJ8jH

"Today’s poem is full of questions but doesn’t circle on a single, winning answer," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1498. "Instead, it finds possibility — and poetry — in the spaces between yes and no." Read “Twenty Questions” by Jayrold Trasporte: bit.ly/3QRsX4c

"Even when we try to do the same thing over and over, variations naturally occur. That’s the magic of being human," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social writes in episode 1497 of The Slowdown. Read "Intaglio" by Emma Aylor and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4vF387t

"Today’s poem reminds me that even when distance is necessary — or imposed — love and memory are tethers that are elastic," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1494. Read “Graduation” by Edgar Kunz, from TAP OUT (@harpercollins.bsky.social): bit.ly/4vyajhC

"It may seem morbid to make a practice from contemplating your own death while you’re still alive, but the idea of your death is probably affecting the way you live," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1493. Read "Stadium" by Heather Tone and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4cJ0Igy

From @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social's book, Good Bones. Published by @tupelopress.bsky.social. Get it here: bit.ly/goodbonesBK #poem #booksky #writing

"To make things that don’t exist yet ... and to send them out into the world is wildly, impractically, gorgeously hopeful," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1491. Read "The plum you’re going to eat next summer” by @gaylebrandeis.bsky.social: bit.ly/41VaS7I

At my Weymouth residency, I walked downtown for coffee & book editing, then popped into The Country Bookshop—where I had to pick up books by Richard Siken, @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social, & @cphillipspoet.bsky.social. #BookReccommendations #Poets #Poetry #Books #PoetrySky