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The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Podcasts · Arts

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

462 episodes · 3 with AI analysis

Host Maggie Smith is your daily poetry companion. Poetry is one of the greatest tools we have to wield our own attention — to consider our own lives and the lives of others, to help us live creatively and compassionately, to use that attention to lean into wonder, and joy, and truth, and to find hope — to keep hoping. The Slowdown community knows that reflecting on a poem, every weekday, can connect us to our inner world and the world around us. Listen as you make your morning coffee, as you go on a walk in your neighborhood, as you pull away from the to-do list, as you resist the dismal, endless scroll to share five minutes of perspective through the lens of poetry, from poets old and new, well-loved and emerging onto the scene. Brought to you by American Public Media, in partnership with the Poetry Foundation.

AI Intelligence · across all analyzed episodes

Topics · top 10

Poetry and literary reflectionScorpion behavior and mythologyDivine miscommunication and accidentAcceptance and adaptationAnimal metaphor in literatureIntroversion and solitudeNatural history and biologyVulnerability and hidden beautySelf-defense versus aggressionLibrary of Alexandria

Analyzed Episodes

Feb 10, 2026

1453: Closing Time; Iskandariya by Brigit Pegeen Kelly

Poetry and literary reflectionScorpion behavior and mythologyDivine miscommunication and accident
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Feb 11, 2026

1454: Katherine with the Lazy Eye. Short. And Not a Good Poet by francine j. harris

Systemic racism in elite athleticsMeritocracy and its limitationsSocial exclusion and marginalization
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Feb 12, 2026

1455: Historical Site by Tommye Blount

Detroit history and cultural significanceAfrican American Great MigrationHistorical preservation and monument interpretation
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