Today’s poem is Ode to The Lone Star State by Jubi Arriola-Headley. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “On a flight to Kansas City just before the most recent Super Bowl, the pilot taunted Chiefs football fans. Just before takeoff, he donned his Dallas Cowboys baseball cap. In jest,…

Today’s poem is Something by Andrea Cohen. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “On a long drive through upstate New York, I ran out of podcasts, six hours in. So, I asked Siri to tell me a joke. She said, “Why did the meatball tell the spaghetti to go…

Today’s poem is Rant by Nathalie Anderson. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “It feels like many people are passing from our lives. Not that the death of a poet is any more devastating, but when a poet dies, my grief is heavier. The year 2023 saw the loss…

Today’s poem is Mercy, Mercy Me by Olatunde Osinaike. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “The speaker in today’s poem survives by an adherence to their values — but also by a willingness to adopt new codes, to risk new experiences, to take on new attitudes.” Celebrate the power…

Today’s poem is Gacela of the Dark Death by Federico García Lorca, translated by Merryn Williams. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem has me recall a pilgrimage to the home of a cherished poet, whose mystery is the very fire that channels my faith in poetry as…

Today’s poem is Nameless Places by Tony Petrosky. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “This summer, I get to write in a castle in Italy at an artist retreat. I am hoping my assigned room is in a dungeon. Otherwise, I am afraid high ceilings will mean high windows,…

Today’s poem is 00000000 by Erin Marie Lynch. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem disentangles the quest for money, transactional desire, and lyric subjectivity. Its teasing interplay of language brings into close proximity art, social class, and manners of currency.” Celebrate the power of poems with a…

Today’s poem is When Your Month is Lonely… by Christine Kwon. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “I read all those articles that proclaim how lonely we are becoming; I believe there’s some truth to it. Here’s my fear: all my work is making me alien to myself and…

Today’s poem is Eid Mubarak by Fady Joudah. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem makes a profound commitment to carry the living and the dead in language forward into time, to record our presence, to meld the collectivity and richness of humanity into a singular vision that…

Today’s poem is To Find Stars in Another Language by Elizabeth Bradfield. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Sometimes it is necessary to create our own stories and poems that account for our reality, for who we are, presently, in the 21st century. Our dreams and imagination serve as…