Today’s poem is Thanks by W.S. Merwin. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on December 18, 2019. In this episode, Tracy writes… “It takes a wise and gifted poet to create a panoramic portrait of life that allows guilt and anger and shame to occupy the very same space as gratitude. I believe the late W.S. Merwin was such a poet. Reading his poem, “Thanks,” takes courage, because it insists upon a fierce form of moral reckoning.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Thanks by W.S. Merwin. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on December 18, 2019. In this episode, Tracy writes… “It takes a wise and gifted poet to create a panoramic portrait of life that allows guilt and anger and shame to occupy the very same space as gratitude. I believe the late W.S. Merwin was such a poet. Reading his poem, “Thanks,” takes courage, because it insists upon a fierce form of moral reckoning.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

Today’s poem is Thanks by W.S. Merwin. The Slowdown is currently taking a break. We’ll be back soon with new episodes from a new host. This week, we’re going back into the archive to revisit Tracy K. Smith’s time as host. Today’s episode was originally released on December 18, 2019. In this episode, Tracy writes… “It takes a wise and gifted poet to create a panoramic portrait of life that allows guilt and anger and shame to occupy the very same space as gratitude. I believe the late W.S. Merwin was such a poet. Reading his poem, “Thanks,” takes courage, because it insists upon a fierce form of moral reckoning.” Celebrate the power of poems with a gift to The Slowdown today. Every donation makes a difference: https://tinyurl.com/rjm4synp

[encore] 278: Thanks by W.S. Merwin

Host Maggie Smith is your daily poetry companion. Poetry is one of the greatest tools we have to wield our own attention — to consider our own lives and the lives of others, to help us live creatively and compassionately, to use that attention to lean into wonder, and joy, and truth, and to find hope — to keep hoping. The Slowdown community knows that reflecting on a poem, every weekday, can connect us to our inner world and the world around us. Listen as you make your morning coffee, as you go on a walk in your neighborhood, as you pull away from the to-do list, as you resist the dismal, endless scroll to share five minutes of perspective through the lens of poetry, from poets old and new, well-loved and emerging onto the scene. Brought to you by American Public Media, in partnership with the Poetry Foundation.

Share [encore] 278: Thanks by W.S. Merwin

Sign up to save your podcasts

[encore] 278: Thanks by W.S. Merwin

[encore] 278: Thanks by W.S. Merwin

More shows like The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Marketplace Morning Report

Poetry Off the Shelf

On Being with Krista Tippett

Marketplace

Fresh Air

The New Yorker: Fiction

Tara Brach

Audio Poem of the Day

Marketplace All-in-One

Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry

Brains On! Science podcast for kids

The New Yorker: Poetry

For The Wild

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker

Thanks For Asking

In The Dark

Make Me Smart

The Paris Review

How to Survive the End of the World

Emergence Magazine Podcast

Smash Boom Best: A funny, smart debate show for kids and family

City Arts & Lectures

Forever Ago

This Is Uncomfortable

Poetry Unbound