The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

American Public Media

4.8 (1.2K)
PERFORMING ARTS
UPDATED DAILY

Poet Major Jackson is your guide on the pathways to feel and understand our common journey – through poetry. In sharing poems, we take a moment to pause and acknowledge the world’s magnitude, and how poets illuminate that mystery. Join The Slowdown for a poem and a moment of reflection in one short episode, every weekday. Produced by APM Studios in partnership with The Poetry Foundation and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. Make us a part of your routine as you drink coffee in the morning, as you take a walk in nature, or as you wind down to go to sleep in the evening. With host Major Jackson, we collectively take a moment to calm, to inspire, to learn, and to engage with the best emerging poets and established writers of our time and generations past, from Emily Dickinson to Danez Smith, from Amanda Gorman to Mary Oliver. Listen to our back catalog for episodes by our previous hosts, Tracy K. Smith and Ada Limón, as well as guest hosts Jenny Xie, Brenda Shaughnessy, Tina Chang, Nate Marshall, Shira Erlichiman, and Jason Schneiderman. Our hosts and production team select poems that move them, and we hope they move you, too.

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Major Jackson

Host

4.8

out of 5

1,151 Ratings

A moment of calm

Oct 4

Steve@;"-)(83!;8389;)1):

A lovely moment of calm in my day. Even on the days I’m listening at 1.25X.
Yes it is a gift

Sep 23

Home girl from D

The reminder to “Praise the mutilated world” arrived right on time. As did your introduction so resonate with the morning I ran out of my favorite coffee. Thank you from a newly minted fan of your show.
What a gift!

May 14

Allie 🐊

I love that Slowdown consistently offers beautiful, accessible poetry read by someone passionate about life and the craft. I often use the slowdown in the classroom and professional development teaching workshops as a powerful opener to spark curiosity and discussion. I shared the “Chaos Theory” episode with 125 students in our last class of the academic year. What a gift! Thanks for all that you do, Major.
If you can get past the host, it’s great!

Jun 6

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The boring, cliched host opens every episode with a story about Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me but if you can survive those 45-60 seconds you’re typically rewarded with a fresh, insightful poem. Just try to ignore what the host has gleaned from it and you’ll be better off.

Poet Major Jackson is your guide on the pathways to feel and understand our common journey – through poetry. In sharing poems, we take a moment to pause and acknowledge the world’s magnitude, and how poets illuminate that mystery. Join The Slowdown for a poem and a moment of reflection in one short episode, every weekday. Produced by APM Studios in partnership with The Poetry Foundation and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. Make us a part of your routine as you drink coffee in the morning, as you take a walk in nature, or as you wind down to go to sleep in the evening. With host Major Jackson, we collectively take a moment to calm, to inspire, to learn, and to engage with the best emerging poets and established writers of our time and generations past, from Emily Dickinson to Danez Smith, from Amanda Gorman to Mary Oliver. Listen to our back catalog for episodes by our previous hosts, Tracy K. Smith and Ada Limón, as well as guest hosts Jenny Xie, Brenda Shaughnessy, Tina Chang, Nate Marshall, Shira Erlichiman, and Jason Schneiderman. Our hosts and production team select poems that move them, and we hope they move you, too.