“Today's poem looks, tenderly, at two siblings attempting to close the distance between them," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's encore episode. Read "Rancho Bar" by Margot Kahn and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4xJRQ20

“I know poetry can’t stop bombs from falling, and it can’t feed the starving, and it can’t evacuate people to safety,” shares @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social in today’s encore episode. "But poetry can change our inner world." Read “From the Sky” by Sara Abou Rashed: bit.ly/4zpUw6w

"There are wonderful, necessary, life-changing adventures to be had by traveling, and still we long to hold and hug and kiss the people who aren't there with us," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's encore episode. Read "XII. Southern Constellations" by Brandon Kilbourne: bit.ly/4fYHy8o

"Today’s poem is a long, beautiful strand," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1410 of The Slowdown. "Listen and enjoy." Read "Go" by Kathleen Ossip and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4zcM7n1 📖: @sarabandebooks.bsky.social

“It can be so hard to accept help from others, especially if you pride yourself on being self-sufficient," host @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's encore episode. Read “Different Kinds of Sadness" by @jennymolberg.bsky.social and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/3UqB1e0

Then go find the podcast and listen to it (all three episodes are out now in WBUR's Dear Sugars feed). You can find it on all the platforms. app.magellan.ai/listen_links...

Dear Sugars

Listen to Dear Sugars

app.magellan.ai

Y'all this is cool! I got to ask @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social and @faithsalie.bsky.social a few questions about their new podcast, "You Could Make This Beautiful" for @cogwbur.bsky.social's newsletter. These supernovas are fun + smart. The show is a delight. Read: www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/...

'You Could Make This Beautiful’: A Q&A with Maggie Smith and Faith Salie

Poet Maggie Smith and journalist Faith Salie have a new three-episode podcast series, “You Could Make This Beautiful,” produced by WBUR. In an interview with Cog editor Cloe Axelson, Smith said: "The ...

wbur.org

Spending the first week of August within these two resonant, powerful collections: House of Sugar, House of Stone about surviving life in a woman’s body, and A Suit or a Suitcase about reintegration after suffering. Kudos to @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social & Emily Pérez! #sealeychallenge

"The Disney versions of fairy tales don’t reflect the gray areas of real life, and they don’t even reflect the traditional versions of these stories," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1574. Read "Black Fairy Tale" by Elizabeth Spires, from ANNONCIADE: bit.ly/4bYM8ko

"As we often see in poems like today’s, language is elastic, adaptable, able to accommodate possibility and complexity," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1575. Read "ode to the afternoon" by Zeina Hashem Beck — from O — and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4xgv69I

Why if my arms are covered with tattoos am I so weird about putting a single bumper sticker on my car?

"Sometimes, as we see in today’s poem, it’s difficult not to wonder if life will go on as expected, and if traditions will continue, or if we’re experiencing the end of an era," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1572. Read "Summer Strawberries" by Cat Wei: bit.ly/4xa81FE 🍓

"The histories that trees hold ... are at the heart of today’s poem," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1573. Read “Dialogue with the Oldest Tree in the U.S., whose Location is a Closely-Guarded Forest Service Secret” by @ninasudhakar.bsky.social: bit.ly/4gbFNo9

“Sometimes, as we see in today’s poem, even when things are difficult, even just the smallest bit of sweetness helps," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1571 of The Slowdown. Read "Guava Jelly" by Quinn Franzen and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/3TLKCvG

"One of the best arguments for what poetry can do, what it’s for, how it can serve us, is that poetry says the unsayable," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1568. Read “Panegyric” by Leila Farjami, from DAUGHTER OF SALT: bit.ly/4vSqw04 📖: @triohousepress.org

"You have one of our listeners to thank for today’s poem — well, one of our listeners for suggesting it, and the beloved Mary Oliver for writing it," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1569. Read “Someday” by Mary Oliver, from RED BIRD, and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/3TKQPYK

"Today’s poem invites us to celebrate what is, rather than what could be — so it invites us to accept ourselves exactly as we are," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1570. Read "Wabi-Sabi" by Catherine Esposito Prescott and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/3RqihKO

So grateful to @slowdownshow.org and @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social for giving this poem such a fine homw

The Slowdown@slowdownshow.org · last mo.

"Grief is with us all the time because love is with us all the time," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1564. "Grief touches every part of our lives, because love touches every part of our lives." Read "Young Widow at the Kitchen Window" by @dsmpoet.bsky.social: bit.ly/45dnp8a

"When the words themselves are lost, so much can be lost with it: oral histories, traditions, and unique perspectives," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1565. Read “bilingual” by @mrmack88.bsky.social from SIPÈSTISYON: bit.ly/44Om9Z1 📖: @@yesyesbooks.bsky.social

"The speaker of today’s poem confesses something — and in doing so, with self-compassion and self-forgiveness, sets it down," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1566. Read "What I Wanted to Keep Private" by Melissa Crowe, from ABIDER: bit.ly/4yExjgE 📖: @upittpress.bsky.social

This is a form that kicked my butt for years so I’m extra tickled to be featured for it. Thank you so much @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social !

The Slowdown@slowdownshow.org · last mo.

"Today’s poem is a villanelle, and its use of the word 'circuit' makes the repetition especially apropos," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1563. Read “Return Path” by @lesleymwheeler.bsky.social, from MYCOCOSMIC: bit.ly/4ffeAke 📖: @tupelopress.bsky.social

"Wherever you live, you don’t have to be nice. But please be kind. We need more genuine, altruistic kindness in this world," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in today's episode, number 1555. Read "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/3SWtqTS

"I’ve read a lot of books over the years, and some have fundamentally changed not only the way I write but the way I think," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1556. "I mean books that broke everything wide open for me." Read “Articulation of Solace” by Yongyu Chen: bit.ly/4fgW0qK

Really ridiculously honored and also I never want to hear my poems in not- @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social- voice ever again.

The Slowdown@slowdownshow.org · 2mo ago

"Today’s poem grapples with parenting, and gender, and what we inherit — positive and negative — from the people who raised us," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1553. Read “When you have to remind me to do the dishes” by @isaacpickell.bsky.social: bit.ly/44clhNA

"No matter where you live in the U.S., you live on land that has long been home to Indigenous people," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in ep. 1552. "Today’s poem takes us to Ancestral Puebloan structures in New Mexico." Read "Mother Church No. 3" by @robincostelewis.bsky.social: bit.ly/4eZPhBf

“Today’s poem makes its many, intentional observations at the pace of a good, long walk," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1551. Read “Laurelhurst” by David Biespiel, from BEAUTIFUL IS THE WORLD: bit.ly/3QXlNfk 📖: @unboundedition.bsky.social

"Today’s poem looks up, listens, and leans into the many things we can become open to by finding closeness with these familiar and strange animals," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1547. Read "Northern Flicker Reconsidered" by Susan Rich and our episode transcript: bit.ly/4g6KKPE

"Our lives are understandably precious to us, and we don’t know how long we can keep them. Of course that causes anxiety," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1548. Read "You're Supposed to Enjoy Dying" by Colin Pope, from LOSERS: bit.ly/4ezt6CY 📖: @uwiscpress.bsky.social

"Today’s poem makes a case for that deeply personal searching we do through our dreams, reflecting on one from the speaker’s childhood," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1550 of The Slowdown. Read "The Interpretation of Dreams" by Kate Farrell: bit.ly/4eU0aEq

"[Today's] poem finds the sacred all around," @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social shares in episode 1545. Read "Panis Angelicus" by Carol Muske-Dukes — from WYNDMERE — and our full episode transcript: bit.ly/4vDs3bm 📖: @upittpress.bsky.social