The Slowdown

Hosted ByTracy K. Smith

Every weekday, Tracy K. Smith delivers a different way to see the world – through poetry. Produced in partnership with the Poetry Foundation and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.


All Episodes

1263: Film Theory by Xan Forest Phillips

Today’s poem is Film Theory by Xan Forest Phillips. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem reminds me that artists exist in...

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1262: The Future of Terror / 1 by Matthea Harvey

Today’s poem is The Future of Terror / 1 by Matthea Harvey. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s haunting poem, an embedded...

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1261: Immersive by Joseph Millar

Today’s poem is Immersive by Joseph Millar. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Poetry reorients me, does the work of humanizing, of not...

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1260: Fade Away by Amorak Huey

Today’s poem is Fade Away by Amorak Huey. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “I cannot fully explain my renewed love for vinyl....

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1259: When you have to kill everybody in the room by Niki Herd

Today’s poem is When you have to kill everybody in the room by Niki Herd. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem...

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1258: The Trees by Jericho Brown

Today’s poem is The Trees by Jericho Brown. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “I love the calls and trills of warblers and...

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1257: Time || Immemorial by Daniel Simon

Today’s poem is Time || Immemorial by Daniel Simon. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Poems about public events offer reflection. They counter...

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1256: A Dominican Poem by Danielle Legros Georges

Today’s poem is A Dominican Poem by Danielle Legros Georges. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. I n this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem problematizes easy notions of...

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1255: The Presence in Absence by Linda Gregg

Today’s poem is The Presence in Absence by Linda Gregg. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “As poet Elizabeth Alexander asks in one...

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