The Slowdown

Look who's in the guest host chair!

Hi, Friend.

I hope you’re already a loyal listener to The Slowdown, the poetry podcast now hosted by Major Jackson. I’m guest hosting for two weeks starting next Monday, February 3.

About the show: “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.”

If you know The Slowdown, you know that each episode begins with the host telling a story or sharing a personal reflection, before reading that day’s poem. For example, here’s Wednesday’s episode.

It was such an honor to guest host, and I enjoyed the whole process, from handpicking the ten poems for my episodes, to brainstorming anecdotes I might want to tell in order to set up the poems, to writing the scripts, to recording the episodes. I’m grateful to lead producer Mika Kielbon and associate producer Maria Württele for making the process happen so seamlessly (and for just being stellar humans).

The official email announcement from the show is below.

I can’t wait to share these poems (and poets) with you. You may hear a favorite or your own or—I hope—discover a new favorite. Trust me: The poem for my first episode on Monday is a must-read (and must-hear).

In the meantime, keep an eye out for a new handwritten annotation of a poem soon, too! I’ve been buried with various book projects lately, as you can probably tell from all of the announcements, but this behind-the-scenes post is in the works…

Love,
Maggie

PS: If you have other poetry-, writing-, or creativity-related podcasts to recommend to us, put them in the comments.

This year has been, thus far, intense. The fires in Los Angeles rattled our team, which is partly based there. We’re at the start of a new presidential administration. This round of dramatic winter weather is throwing off routines and rhythms.

But this hectic reality is exactly why The Slowdown is here: to bring our listeners a few minutes of pause every weekday, to gather over a poem that offers some perspective on a slice of what it means to be human on this planet. It’s a small offering, but it makes a big impact. We have big gratitude for the poets who take up our microphone to share that moment with you. Major is taking some scheduled time off in February, and we have an exciting guest hosting in his stead.

For two weeks, starting Monday, February 3rd, Maggie Smith will join us every day to offer a poem and a moment of reflection. She is the New York Timesbestselling author of eight books of poetry and prose, including You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Keep Moving, and My Thoughts Have Wings. Her next book is Dear Writer: Pep Talks & Practical Advice for the Creative Life, forthcoming in April 2025. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also received a Pushcart Prize and numerous grants and awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her poems and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, TIME, The Nation, The Atlantic, and The Best American Poetry. She lives with her two children in Columbus, Ohio.

Here’s what Maggie had to share about sitting down in the host chair:

When I stop and think about what poetry has made possible in my life—insights, experiences, relationships—I’m amazed. I want all of us to have access to the many pleasures and gifts of poems, because I know from experience how profoundly they can shape our lives. It’s been a privilege and a joy to handpick ten poems to share with Slowdown listeners, and to talk a little about what these poems, and these poets, mean to me. Let’s dig in.

Major will be back in your feeds Monday, February 17th.

With care,
The Slowdown team