[encore] 1383: The Situation in Our City by Ciona Rouse

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, March 30 with new episodes.

Today’s poem is The Situation in Our City by Ciona Rouse. Today’s episode was originally released on October 28, 2025.

In this episode, Maggie writes… “This poem has me thinking more and more about chance, and about our circumstances. It also has me thinking about the ways we take care of one another, and how we can—and must—do BETTER. As James Baldwin famously wrote, ‘The children are always ours.’”

Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp