• 1110: Blue Hour by Chanda Feldman
    May 3 2024

    Today’s poem is Blue Hour by Chanda Feldman.


    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Although about the birth of a child, what I love about today’s poem is how it parallels my growing sense of care for natural environments. When my children were born, their bodies demanded a softness from my body, not to mention a constant attention.”


    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 mins
  • 1109: Never Did Say So by Caridad Moro-Gronlier
    May 2 2024

    Today’s poem is Never Did Say So by Caridad Moro-Gronlier.


    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem explores the depths of its speaker by applying the lyrics of an iconic artist who gets that indomitable spirit of smart, independent women.”


    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 mins
  • 1108: Life on Earth by Dorianne Laux
    May 1 2024

    Today’s poem is Life on Earth by Dorianne Laux.


    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Poems buttress me against the hurt and the harm and the uncertainty of life itself. I fear that the global conflicts we’re witnessing are negatively impacting the health and mental wellbeing of people who are susceptible to the frailty of this moment. I read poetry profusely during times like these.”


    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 mins
  • 1107: Accessory to War by Kim Stafford
    Apr 30 2024

    Today’s poem is Accessory to War by Kim Stafford.


    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s sobering poem lands a powerful reminder: that even when we adhere to a belief against war, even when we wish not to collude in acts of aggression, in a powerful nation as ours, mere citizenship implicates us.”


    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 mins
  • 1106: Life In The Gush Of Boasts by Elijah Burrell
    Apr 29 2024

    Today’s poem is Life In The Gush Of Boasts by Elijah Burrell.


    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Most writers are not “All eyes on me,” but the psychology of the social media “like” and “follower” becomes validation, it seems, between books.”


    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 mins
  • 1105: Self-Portrait with Tumbling and Lasso by Eduardo C. Corral
    Apr 26 2024

    Today’s poem is Self-Portrait with Tumbling and Lasso by Eduardo C. Corral.


    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… "These days, we are loving reading and writing self-portrait poems, what I call the “verbal selfie.” It allows the author to be the runway, to elevate themselves into the frame of language. In so doing, the poet, like the author of today’s poem, experiments with perceptions of the self. I like how the poet in Rembrandt-fashion mythologizes himself in the lyric.”


    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 mins
  • 1104: Black Book of Creation by Shanta Lee Gander
    Apr 25 2024

    Today’s poem is Black Book of Creation by Shanta Lee Gander.


    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem builds on the belief that imagining is a kind of magic and time travel, that listening to the soil and all the voices within is a monumental way into both history, and our future.”


    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 mins
  • 1103: Chaos Theory by Clint Smith
    Apr 24 2024

    Today’s poem is Chaos Theory by Clint Smith.


    The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Occasionally, I try to follow the series of decisions that led me to this present, however triumphant or painful. My life wavers between fate and destiny. But then again, poetry brings me to the belief that some mysterious force is at work, below, that unveils a spiritually deeper meaning to it all."


    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 mins