Today’s poem is Third Week of Ramadan by Sahar Romani. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem banishes any doubt that this is all a precious journey. It is a poem that points to a holy rite practiced the world over whose aim is purification and renewal.”

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Today’s poem is I Want to Die by Tariq Luthun. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual.

In this episode, Major writes… “Dining at a new restaurant, me and a group of friends landed on the topic of fears. I was kind of listening, but I was more into the food being set before us. Then it was my turn; I said I feared loneliness, that I would never experience the joy of friends, that I would lose out on moments like this, taking in the pleasures of the world. I was surprised by my expressiveness. I hear that same fear in today’s poem, against the backdrop of violence as the speaker wavers between joy and oblivion.”

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Today’s poem is If by Imtiaz Dharker.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… "Today’s poem encourages us to be aware of each other, to be more in awe of the miracle of now. With the presence of war on earth, I feel the beckoning call of this poem even more powerfully. Let kindness reign everywhere."

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Today’s poem is Ode to My Mama and “The Purple Dress,” circa 1992-1993 by Brittany Rogers.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… "It’s disconcerting seeing the younger me all these years later. I notice the sensitive, mildly insecure yet intellectually hungry me. I was trying to see a hidden world through the camera’s lens, my inner life in concert with the world around me. These pictures reveal how I strained to feel worthy. Time has cloaked that younger me in layers of earned confidence and extensive growth. I am not sure anyone in my life today would recognize that overly conscious, shy young man."

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Today’s poem is things people like to share: by Nuar Alsadir.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s whimsical poem, a minimalist list poem, meditates on the line between what we might be willing to let go and what we choose to keep for ourselves.”

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Today’s poem is Self-Portrait as Kendrick Lamar, Laughing to the Bank by Ashanti Anderson.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… "I first read today’s poem as the rap battle of the summer, arguably of the century, played out between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. This helped me understand again the relationship between hip-hop and poetry. Wit and insinuation are vital elements of our culture."

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Today’s poem is To Be Longing by Elizabeth Willis.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… "Today’s poem explores the situation of writing ourselves out of fixed meanings that confine us to labels, to disempowering social and political realities."

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Today’s poem is Love Language by Angela Narciso Torres.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Why do we need to know how much we are loved? In a way, aren’t we asking how thick is the shield of affection that protects us from the world, maybe even from ourselves?”

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Today’s poem is Ennui by Luis G. Dato.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem critiques the relentless, psychic demands of an inscrutable world, yet, too, encourages a side-ways road to tranquility, a way that we might secure a meaningful freedom.”

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 Sorrow Ghazal by Mary Elder Jacobsen.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s poem is a loving exchange that underscores the importance of giving room for what makes those we love different from us, even if we wish to change them.”

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