1370: Soot by Kaveh Akbar

Today’s poem is My Body Knows its Limits by Page Hill Starzinger.The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I know we often think of our intelligence as being related to our brains. Smart people are called “brainy.” Wise approaches to problem-solving are called “mindful.” But the body has its own intelligence. Some things we know, because we intuit them—as we say, we feel them in our gut. I sense when I’m in danger, or when someone is lying to me. I might get a prickle on the back of my neck, or a speeding up of my pulse, or an uneasy feeling in my stomach. I sense when I can trust someone, too. My nervous system relaxes around them.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is At Last the New Arriving by Gabrielle Calvocoressi. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I don’t know what might happen tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. I can’t know! That can be a source of stress, but it can also be a source of hope and excitement. The future is full of possibility. Some of life’s surprises are heartbreaking, yes—but some are heart-repairing. Heart filling. Heart strengthening. I try to remind myself of that.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Soot by Kaveh Akbar. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “My friend, the poet Dana Levin, once said that my poems are “God Curious,” and I loved that description. Part of what I do in my poems is pose existential questions to myself, and think—and feel—my way into them. That’s not the same as answering them! Luckily, poems don’t require us to have answers.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Six Hours Lost, Land Between the Lakes by Kathleen Driskell. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem tells a story about a tense encounter in the woods. I so admire how this poet unfolds the narrative, then leaves me sighing deeply at the end.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “The next time I’m asked if writing is therapy, I may just respond by reading today’s poem. I think it answers the question with succinct, heartbreaking beauty.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Abundance by Rick Barot. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem rejoices in something at the heart of this podcast: the pleasure of sharing our favorite poems with others, rather than reading them alone.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Nostalgia by Matthew Minicucci. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I joke that I can be nostalgic about a moment while it’s happening. That might be the writer in me: part of me is in the moment, and part of me is already thinking about it from a distance, and seeking the language to write about it.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Noise Cancelling by Devon Walker-Figueroa. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I love getting a little bit lost. Today’s poem is one you’re going to lose yourself in for these few minutes.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Hiking Moraine State Park by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem speaks to me because, at its heart, is a deep curiosity about the world—a desire to know more and more. It recognizes that sometimes we can use technology to be more connected to nature, not more disconnected from it.”Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Notes on Beachgrass by Yong-Yu Huang. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem offers us images we often find in poetry: the ocean, the moon, dreams, a mother, a wound. But it offers us these elements in such a profoundly original and moving way. I couldn’t read this poem just once—I had to read it several times, picking up new treasures with each reading, like walking along the same stretch of beach at different times of day and finding new shells.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp