1525: The Burning Kite by Ouyang Jianghe, translated by Austin Woerner

Today’s poem is The Burning Kite by Ouyang Jianghe, translated by Austin Woerner. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Every once in a while, a poem comes along with imagery so startling, phrasing so original, I have to read it several times in a row to be sure I’m taking it all in. Today’s poem is one of them.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is Coral, Again by Juliana Spahr. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “When we talk about the health of ocean ecosystems, I often hear the phrase “existential threat.” It’s a phrase that sounds massive. Because it is! It’s something so big that it’s hard to know what to do, how to make the right choices, as just one person. Today’s poem probes those depths and finds an endless possibility of existence in the relationships between tiny beings.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is The Village by Marc Harshman. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “A decade or so ago, I had the privilege of co-teaching a couple of workshops with the poet Stanley Plumly. He’d always say, in workshops, “exploit your territory.” He encouraged writers to lean into the regional instead of running from it. I now tell my students the same thing: Be exactly who you are, and be from where you’re from unapologetically. Show us that life. Tell us those stories. And let your people speak. Today’s poem exploits its territory — and does it masterfully.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is The Long Run by Linda Gregerson. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “I have to remain optimistic — cautiously optimistic, because these are difficult days — that as we know better, we will do better. That we will learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of our forebearers, and that we will repair what we can, despite the harm we humans continue to do.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today we’re excited to share a bonus episode: the first episode of "PASSAGES: On Morrison," produced by our friends at Random House Publishing Group. This new podcast takes reading on the road, as Namwali Serpell — novelist, critic, and Harvard professor — joins fellow writers and skilled readers in conversation to pore over excerpts of Toni Morrison’s prose. The show is the record of a traveling salon, a celebration of Morrison’s extraordinary work, and a love letter to reading closely in community. You’ll hear Serpell in conversation with poet and former host of The Slowdown, Tracy K. Smith. Together, they read the opening of THE BLUEST EYE, Toni Morrison’s debut novel, and discuss all that the passage emits and erases. The second episode, featuring acclaimed poet and critic Hanif Abdurraqib, is also available to listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Today’s poem is You Try To Fix It by Liz Ahl. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “As a child watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, I remember being amazed by the Everlasting Gobstopper — a candy that a child could suck on forever, and it would never get any smaller. One of them would last a lifetime! In real life, manufacturers seem to do the opposite: They intentionally design things inexpensively, with an artificially limited lifespan, so they need to be replaced with a newer version. Today’s poem, though, was built to last.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is The New City by Hieu Minh Nguyen. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “There’s a very specific pleasure in doing things alone. Going to the movies by yourself, sitting in the dark with your own drink and popcorn or candy that you don’t have to share, and sitting anywhere you want in the theatre without asking a companion where they want to sit. Or having a meal on your own, party of one, just people watching and enjoying the ambience without the need to make conversation.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is At the Entrance of a Love Poem, I Hesitate by Maya C. Popa. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Love poems are maybe the hardest poems to write. I speak only for myself here, but I have a feeling plenty of poets agree with me.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is On Being Told I Should Write A Memoir by Jan-Henry Gray. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Today’s poem excavates childhood memories in a way only a poem can — and it enacts the fragmentation, the piece-iness, of memory. I should also mention that the poem uses lines from one of my favorite bands, Built to Spill, as an epigraph. Because in our memories, sometimes other people sing parts of the story.” This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate

Today’s poem is Liquefying by Chloe Yelena Miller. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Maggie writes… “Poets use language the way an artist uses paint, the way sculptors use clay. It’s our material. We have to use it wisely, not only as craftspeople but as humans who care about others. The way today’s poem talks about vision — and vision problems — is original, and vulnerable, and full of nuance. It uses the idea of vision to speak not only into the future, but also, into the past.”This show is supported by gifts from listeners. Support The Slowdown with a donation and get access to the sponsor-free version of The Slowdown today. Slowdownshow.org/donate