Today's poem is Before the Riot by Kwame Dawes.

503: Before the Riot

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.



The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. Make us a part of your routine as you drink coffee in the morning, as you take a walk in nature, or as you wind down to go to sleep in the evening. With host Major Jackson, we collectively take a moment to calm, to inspire, to learn, and to engage with the best emerging poets and established writers of our time and generations past, from Emily Dickinson to Danez Smith, from Amanda Gorman to Mary Oliver.



Listen to our back catalog for episodes by our previous hosts, Tracy K. Smith and Ada Limón,  as well as guest hosts Jenny Xie, Brenda Shaughnessy, Tina Chang, Nate Marshall, Shira Erlichiman, and Jason Schneiderman. Our hosts and production team select poems that move them, and we hope they move you, too.

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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, he claimed, despite not having made it to the Superbowl, his team still carried the banner as “America’s Team.” Half the plane booed. He announced those who booed could remove their seat cushions and sit on iron the entire flight. The whole cabin laughed. Texas often takes it on the chin. I, too, once decried the second largest American state maybe because my Eagles often lost big games to the Cowboys. Yet, my appreciation for Texas has grown over the years.” 
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1100: Ode to The Lone Star State by Jubi Arriola-Headley

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 to sleep,” then answered, “It was pasta bedtime.” I thanked Siri for keeping me company… then became self-conscious about speaking to an artificial being.” 
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1099: Something by Andrea Cohen

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 of many poets I admire, including Benjamin Zephaniah and Louise Glück. When poet Donald Hall died in 2018, I noticed a great shift of voices, one generation exiting as another emerged. We will no longer hear their music in language. Maybe, this has always been the case.” 
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1098: Rant by Nathalie Anderson

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 of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

1097: Mercy, Mercy Me by Olatunde Osinaike

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 nothing less than pure feeling.” 
Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

503: Before the Riot

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