1462: Perspective, Coyoacán by Corey Van Landingham
23/2/2026 | 6min
Today’s poem is Perspective, Coyoacán by Corey Van Landingham.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is an ekphrastic poem, a poem inspired by a piece of art. It opens with an epigraph that is a quote by Frida Kahlo. It strikes me now, reading that line of hers, that while she’s talking about painting herself, it can also refer to writing about oneself.”
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
1461: Word for It by Kevin Craft
20/2/2026 | 6min
Today’s poem is Word for It by Kevin Craft. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The planet we call home is full of miracles, and we don’t have to look hard to find them. Today’s poem is about paying attention to the beauty around us, and to the life around us, even if we don’t fully understand it. Especially if we don’t fully understand it.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
1460: Poem to Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly
19/2/2026 | 5min
Today’s poem is Poem to Remind Myself of the Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly.
The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem is such a beautiful meditation on knowing ourselves, and knowing what we need to be at home in our own lives.”
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
1459: February by Jim Moore
18/2/2026 | 5min
Today’s poem is February by Jim Moore. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Despite February being my birth month, it is easily my least favorite month of the year. The winter weather in the Midwest is brutal. By mid-January, the twinkling lights and holiday cheer that make December bearable are gone. By February, I’m over it.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
1458: on projection by Raena Shirali
17/2/2026 | 6min
Today’s poem is on projection by Raena Shirali. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “One of the things I love about poetry—one of the things I look forward to, and revel in, as a reader and listener—is the way a poet can make the familiar strange. A familiar landscape, thanks to poetic language, can be transformed into something unfamiliar.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp
Host Maggie Smith is your daily poetry companion. Poetry is one of the greatest tools we have to wield our own attention — to consider our own lives and the lives of others, to help us live creatively and compassionately, to use that attention to lean into wonder, and joy, and truth, and to find hope — to keep hoping. The Slowdown community knows that reflecting on a poem, every weekday, can connect us to our inner world and the world around us. Listen as you make your morning coffee, as you go on a walk in your neighborhood, as you pull away from the to-do list, as you resist the dismal, endless scroll to share five minutes of perspective through the lens of poetry, from poets old and new, well-loved and emerging onto the scene. Brought to you by American Public Media, in partnership with the Poetry Foundation.